by Conan Simmons – February 6, 2021 – 1:40 pm
The only two characters in this movie, ‘Malcolm and Marie’, are played by John David Washington and Zendaya. Two capable actors that can do well with a decent script and competent directing. Unfortunately, they have neither in this film.
The film starts with the couple returning home from a film premiere. Malcolm is ecstatic that his debut feature seems to have gone well. Marie is somber and, still wearing a fancy dress made for the red carpet, begins boiling some macaroni and cheese. As Malcolm nonstop talks about his movie Marie is angry that he failed to thank her in his acceptance speech. She is also mad that he used her life story as the basis of his movie. Malcolm eagerly awaits the film reviews to be published, especially from one particular critic that previously gave him bad reviews.
If any of that sounds captivating to you than perhaps this is your kind of movie. If not, too bad because that’s all the plot there is.
The movie is as narcissistic and pretentious as its main character of Malcolm. Overflowing with self-importance that presumes anyone else cares. When Malcolm does read the film review of a critic he is obsessed with he throws a fit complaining about Youtube videos and how people think ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ is good because Ed Wood wore women’s underwear.
First of all, even people that like the movie ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ recognize that it’s not “great cinema”, and it’s long been considered the greatest bad movie ever made because of its flaws, not because of the director wearing women’s underwear. Though with that said, perhaps if Sam Levinson, the director of ‘Malcolm and Marie’, took a cue from Ed Wood and wore some women’s underwear he may be inspired to make a better movie.
As for Malcolm’s complaint about Youtube videos, we’ve all seen Youtube videos better than ‘Malcolm and Marie’.
There are only two good things about this movie, one is the nice, crisp black and white cinematography. It’s not particularly extraordinary it just looks like a nicely lit photoshoot for a magazine commercial. The picture quality emphasizes the emptiness and shallowness of the two characters inhabiting a sterilely furnished house.
The worst thing about this movie is the script, credited to the director Sam Levinson though obviously improvised in parts by the two stars. All of Levinson’s frustrations as a filmmaker, every perceived slight and insecurity, is vented through these two characters, mostly Malcolm. The indulgence of self-importance does not make for an interesting story.
Shockingly, the acting is abysmal. Having previously seen ‘Blackkklansman’ and the recent Spider-Man movies I know these two stars can do well. Sadly, the director of ‘Malcolm and Marie’ either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about working with actors to craft a performance. The acting in this film is about the equivalent of a Youtube video. The amateur habit of letting out a deep sigh before delivering a line of critical dialogue is just narrowly avoided by Zendaya more than a couple of times. John David Washington just runs with the lines and repeatedly calls out Marie’s name when he can’t think of anything else to say.
Which brings us to the second good thing about this movie. The stars look great. On a pure eye candy level, paired with the nice cinematography, it’s the only reason to watch this movie. Mostly it falls into the category coined by film critic Pauline Kael, that of the “male gaze”. In the films most ironic moment, the epitome of the “male gaze” culminates in a scene of Marie musing on how movies shouldn’t have so much of that kind of thing. It’s clearly an intentional scene and perhaps the only victory Levinson achieves with his direction here.
One thing ‘Malcolm and Marie’ may have accomplished over any other movie is getting the record for most peeing scenes in a film. There are at least a half dozen scenes of the characters peeing as though it was the only action the filmmakers could think of in an overly talky film. It’s kind of weird given that neither character seems to drink much, perhaps they are abundantly hydrated. It’s also weird that a movie filmed during the Covid-19 lockdown includes so many peeing scenes and not one of the characters washing their hands.
Overall ‘Malcolm and Marie’ comes across like a big budget student film. It’s the kind of movie you watch and think “I can make a better movie than this.” And if you make a Youtube video, you probably will.