• Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Crooked Marquee
  • Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Home
Reviews

Review: Malcolm & Marie

Feb 3rd, 2021 Craig Lindsey
Review: Malcolm & Marie

With the exception of Sofia Coppola, it’s been a lousy time for the offspring of revered filmmakers. Most of us are waiting to see how Jason Reitman will numb us to tears with his delayed summer blockbuster Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the supposedly sentimental sequel to his father Ivan’s sci-fi comedy megahit where, as one colleague recently reminded me on Twitter, Dan Aykroyd has a dream where he gets blown by an apparition. Meanwhile, serial sexual abuser Max Landis has proven to be a bigger douchebag than his dad John (who notoriously killed Jennifer Jason Leigh’s dad and two children). And, yet, he still continues to pen WTF genre flicks like the recent Chloe Grace Moretz vehicle Shadow in the Cloud.

And, now, we have Sam Levinson — or should I say “visionary director Sam Levinson.” That’s how he was labeled in the trailer for his latest film, the Netflix two-hander Malcolm & Marie. It seems Barry Levinson’s kid — who is mostly known these days as the showrunner for HBO’s teen hellride Euphoria — thinks extremely highly of himself, which you’ll discover when you sit through this nearly-two-hour, black-and-white, two-act-play of a movie, shot on the low during these socially-distanced times.

As the title lays out, it’s about two people, up-and-coming filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Euphoria star Zendaya). They’re coming home after a glorious night where Malcolm has debuted his first film, a drama about a drug addict. While Malcolm is on cloud nine, getting his drink on and dancing to James Brown around the living room, Marie is visibly upset. It turns out homeboy pulled a Hilary Swank and forgot to thank her in his opening speech, which is understandable — especially considering Marie, an ex-druggie herself, feels the movie is based on her life.

(NETFLIX © 2021)

What follows is a nocturnal tug-of-war between the two, which includes hella hateful arguments, romantic interludes and — believe it or not — macaroni and cheese. It makes you wonder how much these two really know about each other, since they’re supposed to be a longtime couple and all. After one scene where Marie chews out Malcolm for being mediocre and unoriginal, Malcolm hits her back with a laundry list of women he’s been with. As he cruelly gets his DMX on and goes down his list o’ ladies, all I kept thinking was, he never told her about any of these chicks? It’s 2021, and we’re still doing the whole don’t-ask-don’t-tell thing when it comes to disclosing previous partners? 

But Malcolm & Marie isn’t just about these two flinging verbal daggers at each other all night. It’s also about Levinson getting back at all the critics who don’t really understand him. At one point, Malcolm reads aloud a newly posted, positive review of his film. But he gets pissed that the writer is merely saying that, since he’s Black, he knows how to bring pain and trauma on-screen — or some shit like that. He then goes into a pedantic tirade (which Marie, now wearing a tank top and panties, can’t stop giggling at) where he lists (again!) all the past and present filmmakers who have defied convention, went outside the boxes they were categorized in, and made cinematic classics. The whole thing would be a very entertaining, very meta rant (after all, this is a movie about a couple of color, written and directed by a Jewish guy) if it didn’t feel like Levinson is basically using Washington as a mouthpiece. It appears Levinson is still mad at those who didn’t get his last film, Assassination Nation — particularly film critic Katie Walsh, who gave it a less-than-stellar review in the Los Angeles Times. (The review is written by a “white girl from the LA Times,” who is a topic of conversation throughout this damn thing.)

(DOMINIC MILLER/NETFLIX © 2021)

The whole vengeance-is-mine vibe is as much of a turnoff as the back-and-forth jabs Zendaya and Washington are forced to jolt each other with. They’re not at fault here — Levinson knew what he was doing when he cast two of the most charismatic-as-hell performers currently out there in this picture. As she’s already shown on Euphoria, Zendaya is a fragile flower in a waifish frame, always ready to hit you with bruised emotion. And Washington (who we all should know by now is Denzel’s kid) continues to be the most vigorous chip-off-the-old-block in these streets. If anything, Washington makes the case that, unlike his old man, he does his best work when he’s not cool, calm and collected. 

Even though they pull off charged, magnetic performances, Malcolm & Marie is still some pretentious, spiteful noise— it’s like someone made a Contempt/Faces mashup for those who follow The Shade Room on Instagram. It also feels like a bare-bones version of The Anniversary Party, where stars/directors Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming play a Hollywood couple who are at odds when Cumming celebrates his upcoming movie, which seems eerily about Leigh’s life. 

At least that movie had a bunch of famous co-stars doing drugs and skinny-dipping. Malcolm & Marie just has two beautiful, Black people being assholes to each other. Happy Black History Month, everybody!

C-

“Malcolm & Marie” is now playing in select theaters. It streams on Netflix Friday.

  • Tags
  • movie review
Facebook Twitter Google+
Craig Lindsey

Craig Lindsey

Related Posts
Review: <i>Shotgun Wedding</i>
Kimber Myers

Review: Shotgun Wedding

Jan 26th, 2023
Review: <i>One Fine Morning</i>
Jason Bailey

Review: One Fine Morning

Jan 26th, 2023
Review: <i>Missing</i>
Kimber Myers

Review: Missing

Jan 19th, 2023
Trending
Jan 27th 9:00 AM
Looking Back

Classic Corner: Play Misty for Me

Jan 24th 9:00 AM
Movies

The Chaotic B-Movie Retro Charm of Gerard Butler

Nov 17th 9:00 AM
Movies

The Strange, Sordid Tale of Charles Bronson Lookalike Robert Bronzi

Oct 27th 11:00 AM
Looking Back

Requiem for a Dream and The Ballad of Sara Goldfarb

Oct 8th 9:00 AM
Reviews

Review: Charm City Kings

Sep 7th 9:00 AM
Movies

Annapurna Pictures at 10: Megan Ellison’s Trajectory Is Indie Film In Microcosm

Aug 24th 1:21 PM
Movies

REVIEW: A.X.L. Meets Basic Boy-and-Robot-Dog Movie Requirements

Nov 19th 6:34 AM
Looking Back

Sleepy Hollow and the Rise of Gothic Noir

Jul 21st 9:00 AM
Looking Back

The Unintentional Empathy of Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill

Nov 23rd 9:00 AM
Looking Back

Mona Lisa Smile, Dead Poets Society, and The Subtle Sexism of How We View Movies

cmpopcorn_white3.svg
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Writers Guidelines
  • Members
    • Login
    • SignUp
    • Forums
telephone icon [email protected]
envelope icon [email protected]
© 2014-2022 Crooked™ Publishing
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}