Review of Malcolm & Marie (2021) by Theredsky — 06 Mar 2021

This is so frustrating because this film looked very promising. Maybe I went in expecting it to be good but I was ultimately disappointed. First off, John David Washington and Zendaya do an excellent job.

I believed that they were portraying these characters and they really bring out their emotional moments in a powerful way. If there is anything to take away from this film, it’s the excellent performances.

However, their respective characters feel very underdeveloped. Washington’s character has little to no characterization while Zendaya’s has some but not enough characterization. We get an interesting backstory but that’s about it.

The script also hampers their performances just a little bit with how basic it is. The messages the film sends are very surface level and don’t leave a lot of room for interpretation. One of the messages regards white critics praising films by a black director in a political sense.

While I do agree, that’s as deep as it gets. This idea isn’t explored more and it honestly makes the film feel like a hitpiece against critics. This film did not need to be in black and white. I’ve honestly tried thinking for a reason behind why the film is in black and white and I can’t find one.

It makes the film feel very pretentious. I did like how the film was shot though as some of the cinematography is gorgeous and I liked the song choices. If you enjoy Sam Levinson’s work or these two actors then you’ll probably enjoy this more than I did.