Malcolm & Marie Review

Malcolm & Marie centers on the eponymous couple, played admirably by John David Washington and Zendaya respectively, who return home after the premiere of Malcolm’s latest directorial effort, to yell at and manipulate each other for 106 straight minutes. This is a deeply troubled, toxic relationship where neither party says what they really mean, preferring instead to project the blame onto the other as we watch their relationship be stretched to its limits in real-time.

In watching this film, one can’t help but be reminded of another monochrome 35mm relationship drama set in the house of a toxic couple. In writing and directing Malcolm & Marie, filmmaker Sam Levinson is essentially playing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? dress up, and making his stars play along. Mike Nichols, this man is not.

On the topic of things Sam Levinson isn’t, one would be remiss to not address the elephant in the room – race. This is clearly a very personal film, where the characters are little more than mouthpieces for the filmmaker’s personal beliefs and experiences. Levinson pushes this, however, by attempting to write about the Black experience, something he simply shouldn’t have tried. That’s not to say white filmmakers can’t write black characters. It’s more a comment on his misguided attempt to discuss the characters’ uniquely Black life experiences, when Levinson, himself, is white. This is the key offender in the case of this movie’s inauthenticity. He stopped writing what he knew and tried to write on behalf of his actors, and in doing so, creates the impression that he views his voice as more important. 

However, the scenes in which he does write what he knows are exhausting in their own right, as the central conflicts in the story seem uncomfortably personal. First, there’s the misunderstood writer/director trope played by Washington, where Levinson seems to blame his own personal artistic shortcomings on everyone except himself. For example, in Malcolm & Marie, the “character” Malcolm gives a rant about how unfair it is to judge the “male gaze” of a straight male director when criticized about the graphic female nudity featured in his movie. In real life, Levinson has been frequently criticized for what some have viewed as exploitative female nudity on his show Euphoria. In the film, Malcolm also frequently berates the “White girl at the LA Times” who panned his first movie as an ignorant critic who misunderstands true art. Levinson’s first feature film Assassination Nation was itself panned by a white female critic at the LA Times. And the list goes on.

Though Washington is clearly trying his best with weak material, the real star of the movie is Zendaya. Coming off an Emmy win last year for Euphoria, she gives an absolutely riveting, can’t-look-away performance as the titular Marie. A young recovering addict and partner to Washington’s Malcolm, you can feel her backstory in every line she delivers. This is not a child-star level of talent displayed in this film. Zendaya completely owns this movie, which would be otherwise unwatchable without her input. In this bizarre awards season, she deserves every accolade thrown her way.

Malcolm & Marie, in its awkward attempt to create art in “Difficult Times,” demonstrates the importance of not rushing art. Perhaps if the filmmakers had taken their time in fully developing this idea, it wouldn’t feel quite as much like a shallow verbal boxing match. At its core, though, this is a truly exhausting movie.

Malcolm & Marie is currently streaming on Netflix.