In Brief: If you love watching people bitch at each other for a couple of hours, this one is for you. As for me? It’s one of my least favorite genres.
Malcolm & Marie fits in the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The War of the Roses film category. In this case, it’s two people in the throes of a dying and troubled relationship.
John David Washington (Tenet, BlacKkKlansman) is Malcolm. He’s a filmmaker whose movie just had its premiere. Malcolm and his lady love, Marie have just returned from the event. She’s wonderfully done by Zendaya (Spider Man: Far From Home, The Greatest Showman). His problem? In his rambling thank you to all involved in the movie, Malcolm leaves Marie out.
Uh oh.
From that point on the two argue about her being left out, his movie and the inspiration for the film, the reviews and the take of critics on the movie, their relationship, her former addictions, sex and — oddly — eating. Malcolm wants Mac and cheese after they return.
Ultimately, this is a bad relationship movie. The relationship is bad and — in spite of some great acting by Washington and Zendaya — the movie is also bad. At least it is in my book.
That said, I’ve never liked this genre of movie.
The acting in afore mentioned films — and in Malcolm & Marie — is as good as acting gets. But who wants to watch a couple of hours of two people ripping their souls apart?
Some of you. Not me.
Director: Sam Levinson
Stars: John David Washington, Zendaya
Rated R for mature themes and language. A couple argue and say hateful things to each other for 1:45. Zzzzzzzzzz. Need I say more? Give this one a Friday Flicks with Gary 2 1/2 out of 5. The high rating is only because of the great acting.
You can stream this movie on Netflix.
Gary Wolcott has been reviewing movies on radio, television and newspaper since 1990. He believes — and this is an estimate only — that he’s seen something close to 10,000 movies in his lifetime. Gary is a lifelong fan of films and catches a couple of hundred movies a year. He believes movies ought to be seen on the big screen and not on the small screen in your living room or family room. While he loves movies, he also says reviewing film can be a real sacrifice and that he sees many movies so you don’t have to.
He is one of KXL 101.1 FM’s film critics and joined the news staff in 2014. Gary is also the film critic for Tri-Cities, Washington’s Tri-City Herald.