While I agree that Malcolm & Marie isn’t Oscar-worthy, I couldn’t help but notice the review’s inaccuracies. Honestly, the author’s analysis seemed based upon a single watch. 

Author Jackson Noel argues that the film lacks self-awareness about the supposedly upper-class protagonists who, “roll up to their secluded mini-mansion after a night of praise at the premiere of Malcolm’s latest film.” The couple are actually lent the place by Malcolm’s production company for that weekend. In fact, a significant disparity between the two is their contrasting relationships with class. While Malcolm’s parents are affluent and college-educated, Marie’s aren’t so lucky. Thus begins Noel’s confusing and inaccurate tirade against Malcolm & Marie. 

The article falsely sets the film during the pandemic, describing the setting as “a brief excuse for why they spend a night of celebration isolated rather than at an after-party.” Yet, the film attributes much of Marie’s anger to her interactions with Malcolm’s colleagues at the after-party from which they’ve returned. 

Yes, the dialogue definitely read like Levinson’s excuse to use the biggest words he knows. 

However the depiction of Malcolm & Marie as an ignorant detachment from modern romance is extreme. The couple’s arguments detail a codependent need to stay together alongside an inability to compromise their own egos. If that doesn’t encapsulate toxic relationships under the pressures of social media, then I’m unsure what can. 

Malcolm & Marie is far from perfect, but I’m surprised that The Ithacan would allow simple mistakes about a film to be the basis of any review.

Best, 

Juliana Luis, Class of ’23