{"id":172783,"date":"2021-02-05T16:30:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/malcolm-marie-is-major-girl-you-wish-you-hadnt-started-a-conversation-with-at-a-party-vibes\/"},"modified":"2021-02-05T16:30:20","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:30:20","slug":"malcolm-marie-is-major-girl-you-wish-you-hadnt-started-a-conversation-with-at-a-party-vibes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/malcolm-marie-is-major-girl-you-wish-you-hadnt-started-a-conversation-with-at-a-party-vibes\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018Malcolm & Marie\u2019 Is Major \u201cGirl You Wish You Hadn\u2019t Started A Conversation With At a Party\u201d Vibes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#\u2018Malcolm & Marie\u2019 Is Major \u201cGirl You Wish You Hadn\u2019t Started A Conversation With At a Party\u201d Vibes<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

About 20 minutes into Malcolm & Marie<\/em>\u2014the new Netflix drama that began streaming today\u2014Zendaya turns to John David Washington and says, \u201cDon\u2019t believe the hype, Malcolm, and don\u2019t push away the people who ground you.\u201d She kisses him gently, and continues, \u201cYou\u2019re gonna start making fake movies<\/a>, about fake people with fake emotions. Next thing you know, you\u2019ll be on your press tour for the next LEGO movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here that I realized Malcolm & Marie<\/em> wasn\u2019t really<\/em> a romance about an egotistical film director named Malcolm (Washington) and his long-suffering girlfriend Marie (Zendaya). Is that line something a girlfriend with her own thoughts and feelings and worries and dreams\u2014even one who was immersed in the film industry as an actor\u2014would say? No! It\u2019s something an artist would say to himself, maybe written in his Google Doc of journal entries at the end of the day. And that\u2019s what Malcolm & Mari<\/em>e really is: 102 minutes of writer\/director Sam Levinson having a conversation with himself.<\/p>\n

The best comparison I can think of is \u201cGirl You Wish You Hadn\u2019t Started a Conversation With at a Party<\/a>,\u201d the brilliant recurring Saturday Night Live<\/em> character played by Cecily Strong. The bit almost always lands, because Strong is great at her job, but also because we all know that feeling\u2014some girl, who\u2019s not very smart, has had too much to drink and has decided she\u2019s an expert on world hunger or terrorism. And somehow, you\u2019re the poor sap who got stuck talking to her at a party.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Levinson occupies a new space in that same category: The Guy You Wish You Hadn\u2019t Started a Conversation With At a Party. You know the one. It\u2019s the floppy-haired dude who ate an edible, drank three IPAs, and has targeted you as his sounding board for half-baked philosophical ideas. He\u2019s got you cornered, and you\u2019re stuck half-listening, fake smile on your face as you nod along, keeping an eye on your friends across the room, who seem to be having a much better time than you.<\/p>\n

Maybe if you\u2019ve had an edible too, you\u2019ll find what this guy has to say mildly interesting. Maybe you\u2019ll even find it entertaining. Indeed, parts of Malcolm & Marie<\/em> are fun to watch, thanks to Washington and Zendaya\u2019s performances. Washington is all manic energy waiting to explode, while Zendaya quietly simmers before calmly landing a devastating blow. Levinson has some interesting points to make about the parasitical nature of artistry. Marie is pissed at Malcolm for not thanking her in his speech at his buzzy film\u2019s premiere\u2014which is especially egregious when we learn that he based his protagonist on Marie\u2019s struggle with drug addiction. How much of storytelling is talent, and how much is finding the right muse? What do writers owe to the people who inspire them? Surely at least a public \u201cthank you,\u201d right? It makes you think!<\/p>\n

\"Malcolm
Photo: Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Levinson loves the sound of his own voice too much. Marie isn\u2019t a character in her own right\u2014though Zendaya does an admirable job trying to get her there\u2014she\u2019s just another mouthpiece for Levinson\u2019s conflicted inner monologue. She\u2019s every bit as much \u201cThe Guy You Wish You Hadn\u2019t Started a Conversation With\u201d as Malcolm is, going on and on about filmmaking being the most capitalistic mainstream art-form.<\/p>\n

Then Levinson lets his personal grudges get in the way of his larger thesis. Perhaps you\u2019ve heard that many suspect Malcolm\u2019s unhinged eight-minute rant about \u201cthe white bitch from the LA Times<\/em>\u201d is a direct response to a negative review<\/a> of Levinson\u2019s 2018 film, Assassination Nation<\/em>. He confidently raves about issues on which he has zero expertise, like the struggle of being a Black filmmaker in a white-dominated field. It\u2019s uncomfortable, unpleasant, and, eventually, just kinda boring. You start to wish he\u2019d stop talking and leave you alone.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, it will be easy for Netflix viewers to extract themselves once they tire of Levinson\u2019s tirade\u2014simply click on one of the other hundreds of titles Netflix has to offer. No need to fake a bathroom run and avoid him for the rest of the night. Thank god.
\n Watch Malcolm & Marie<\/em> on Netflix
\n<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n