It would seem that every generation gets the ‘Ebony and Ivory’ parody that it deserves. In 1982 – the same year that Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder released their saccharinely anti-racist mega-hit – Saturday Night Live spoofed the song by casting Eddie Murphy as Little Stevie and swapping out Macca for Joe Piscopo’s Frank Sinatra. Ebony & Ivory (2024)Beckett, of course, is a high bar, and Ebony & Ivory isn’t really trying to measure up; on the contrary, the script makes a running joke – or maybe a fetish – of keeping the dramatic and intellectual stakes low. There’s also no chance in hell (or only a very slim, malnourished one) that Ebony & Ivory will break midnight-movie containment to be seen by viewers who aren’t already to some extent in on the joke. I can hear the audience members whispering nervously among themselves now: “That Paul Mescal has really let himself go.”