Lizzo will perform at American Airlines Center on October 28.
Photo courtesy of Lizzo
Houston-born singer/rapper/flutist Lizzo's upcoming "The Special Tour" will include a Bayou City stop at Toyota Center on October 26.
The tour, which will hit 25 cities across North America in Fall 2022, will kick off on September 23 in Sunrise, Florida. She'll also play in Austin on October 25 and Dallas on October 28. Atlanta rapper Latto will be the special guest on all dates.
The body-positive superstar has been on a roll in recent weeks, releasing "About Damn Time," the lead single off her forthcoming new album, Special, scheduled for release on July 15. She was also given the relatively rare honor of being both the host and musical guest for the April 16 episode of Saturday Night Live.
Lizzo made her debut on SNL in her breakout year in 2019, during which she released her platinum-selling third album, Cuz I Love You, which featured mega-hits like "Truth Hurts" and "Good As Hell." She went on to win three Grammy Awards in 2020, including Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Traditional R&B Performance.
Fans who pre-save/pre-add Lizzo’s upcoming album at this link will receive early access to purchase tour tickets. The public on-sale date will be Friday, April 29 at 10 am on ticketmaster.com. American Express card members will have first access to purchase tickets before the general public beginning 10 am Tuesday, April 26 through 10 pm Thursday, April 28.
Lizzo is also teaming up with T-Mobile to give T-Mobile customers access to stage-front pit and lower bowl tickets at every U.S. tour stop, even at sold-out shows. Customers can get reserved tickets starting 30 days prior to each show at first-day prices.
The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.
The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).
Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.
Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).
Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.
What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.
Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.
Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.
