And, now, we have Sam Levinson \u2014 or should I say \u201cvisionary director Sam Levinson.\u201d That\u2019s how he was labeled in the trailer for his latest film, the Netflix two-hander Malcolm & Marie<\/em>. It seems Barry Levinson\u2019s kid \u2014 who is mostly known these days as the showrunner for HBO\u2019s teen hellride Euphoria<\/em> \u2014 thinks extremely highly of himself, which you\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the title lays out, it\u2019s about two people, up-and-coming filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Euphoria<\/em> star Zendaya). They\u2019re 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<\/a> and forgot to thank her in his opening speech, which is understandable \u2014 especially considering Marie, an ex-druggie herself, feels the movie is based on her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What follows is a nocturnal tug-of-war between the two, which includes hella hateful arguments, romantic interludes and \u2014 believe it or not \u2014 macaroni and cheese. It makes you wonder how much these two really know about each other, since they\u2019re 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\u2019s been with. As he cruelly gets his DMX on<\/a> and goes down his list o\u2019 ladies, all I kept thinking was, he never told her about any of these chicks? It\u2019s 2021, and we\u2019re still doing the whole don\u2019t-ask-don\u2019t-tell thing when it comes to disclosing previous partners? <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Malcolm & Marie <\/em>isn\u2019t just about these two flinging verbal daggers at each other all night. It\u2019s also about Levinson getting back at all the critics who don\u2019t really understand<\/em> 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\u2019s Black, he knows how to bring pain and trauma on-screen \u2014 or some shit like that. He then goes into a pedantic tirade (which Marie, now wearing a tank top and panties, can\u2019t 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\u2019t feel like Levinson is basically using Washington as a mouthpiece. It appears Levinson is still mad at those who didn\u2019t get his last film, Assassination Nation<\/em> \u2014 particularly film critic Katie Walsh, who gave it a less-than-stellar review<\/a> in the Los Angeles Times<\/em>. (The review is written by a \u201cwhite girl from the LA Times<\/em>,\u201d who is a topic of conversation throughout this damn thing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019re not at fault here \u2014 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\u2019s already shown on Euphoria<\/em>, 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\u2019s 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\u2019s not<\/em> cool, calm and collected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though they pull off charged, magnetic performances, Malcolm & Marie<\/em> is still some pretentious, spiteful noise\u2014 it\u2019s like someone made a Contempt<\/em>\/Faces<\/em> mashup for those who follow The Shade Room on Instagram. It also feels like a bare-bones version of The Anniversary Party<\/em>, 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\u2019s life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At least that movie had a bunch of famous co-stars doing drugs and skinny-dipping. Malcolm & Marie<\/em> just has two beautiful, Black people being assholes to each other. Happy Black History Month, everybody! “Malcolm & Marie” is now playing in select theaters. It streams on Netflix <\/a>Friday. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Malcolm-Marie3-1024x554.jpg\")
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