Michael Fletcher
CAST: Ṣọpẹ Dìrísu, Freida Pinto,Zawe Ashton
DIRECTED BY: Emma Holly Jones
BLUF
“Mr. Malcolm’s List” is a light, frothy movie that concerns a gentleman who has the wrong idea about dating. Or as it’s known in this 19th century period piece, courtship. Mr. Malcolm is played by Sope Dirisu, with a poise that would make Sidney Poitier proud, and he carries that confidence to his misguided search for the perfect wife in Regency era England. He has an actual list of ten qualities that he wants from a perfect match, including: “Candid, truthful and guileless,” “amiable and even tempered,” having musical talent, and also being able to talk about politics. The wealthy Mr. Malcolm is a hot commodity in the dating pool that he is anxious to get a bride from, but he’s clearly not making it easier.
One woman, Ms. Julia Thistlewaite, experiences the burn from this list—she didn’t meet the politics requirement during an otherwise disastrous date at the opera. And she does not take it well, especially when the local newspaper makes a meme of her disastrous date for all the public to laugh about. To heal her bruised ego, this character played by Zawe Ashton enlists her somewhat naive childhood friend from the country, Ms. Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) in a classic scheme—Ms. Dalton will pretend to be the different things that Mr. Malcolm is looking for. She’ll read large books, pretend to play Chopin on piano (with the help of Ms. Thistlewaite’s cousin, Lord Cassidy [Oliver Jackson-Cohen]), and charm Mr. Malcolm with a hoax. And right when he declares his love for this fake version of Ms. Dalton, he’ll learn a lesson about being so picky. Things do not go according to plan.
While this is a story that we’ve seen a few times before in British time pieces, we can appreciate the stellar cast and light/playful mood the film brings to us. Frieda Pinto is able to capture the audience with well timed humor and provides great chemistry with Sope Dirisu. On top of that, some may find Dirisu’s character somewhat humorous in the sense that his arrogance may be portraying the upperclass’s view on people in terms of marriage.
IN THE KNOW
This film is very predictable. Within the first 10 minutes we all know where this film is going and where it will end. For some (myself included), this led to a lot of predictable turns. However, as compared to other movies, I did not cringe whenever the predictable turns landed. The script in this movie allowed for these predictable plot points to actually be enjoyable through humor and charm. The scenes were coupled with great cinematography in the ballroom and the English landscape.
I do however this film left a lot on the table. For one, I think Mr Malcom’s character did not have a lot of personality. I do not think this was the fault of the actor, but his new perspective came with little transformation. While the focus of this movie was not on the Mr. Malcolm, it would have been nice to see there be more traits in him. For example, he is simply being picky by having a lot of qualities, but some of these such as “being charitable, being truthful” are actually quite basic. Couldn’t it be a great twist if he was frustrated because upper class candidates did not possess this? I think this film was also restricted by its PG nature and some scenes/language was dulled down in order to maintain this rating.
Regardless, Pinto was the star of this show and well deserved as she is an underrated main character energy actress. I am very much looking forward to what she will be starring in after this film.
Overall, this film sets itself apart from others that are similar to it, but is a movie that leaves you wondering if it could have been optimized.
I think it was light and playful for the 120 minutes it lasted, but I also think that it could have been molded into something a little more thought provoking and poked more at the arranged marriage dynamic that it tried to discuss. If this was its angle, it did not do so in a very deep or meaningful way. Rather, it told the story of an arrogant man who came to realize that his view on the model woman was out of proportion, and that love is a rubric.
