"Mr. Malcolm's List" - Film Review
It is so easy to love period piece romantic comedies and all of their restrained British longing. The lingering touches, the soft glances, and the overly proper flirting. Throw in gorgeous countryside scenery, exquisite costumes, and an intriguing premise and you’ve got a film that’s compulsively watchable.
Mr. Malcolm’s List has all the proper ingredients for one of the aforementioned yearning period pieces. Mr. Malcolm (Sope Dirisu) is a Mr. Darcy type. Aloof with a high social standing, he’s the most desired suitor in England. Mr. Malcolm has quite the reputation for being a heartbreaker. His latest victim is Miss Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton). The two attended an opera together, but he never returned to call on her.
Unbeknownst to Miss Thistlewaite, Mr. Malcolm has a list of attributes that his ideal wife will meet. He shows the list to Miss Thistlewaite’s cousin, Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who passes the information along to Miss Thistlewaite. The list inspires her to give Mr. Malcolm a taste of his own medicine. She enlists her longtime friend, Miss Dalton (Freida Pinto), to pretend to act as the perfect suitor for Mr. Malcolm. Once he falls for her, Miss Dalton will give him a list of her own that he will not live up to. Of course, things don’t go exactly as planned because romance is unpredictable.
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In a sense, Mr. Malcolm’s List is a 19th century version of John Tucker Must Die, as well as just about any other romantic comedy that begins with a woman scorned. And the film wastes no time in setting up the delightfully breezy premise. It’s simple enough that it doesn’t take immense brainpower to grasp, but rife with opportunities for comedic mishaps. And there’s a fair share of genuinely humorous moments. Miss Thistlewaite and Lordy Cassidy are the ones to thank for the comedic relief, and it’s relief the film is desperate for.
Despite the fact that the plot sounds like it would be right at home in Jane Austen’s body of work, Mr. Malcolm’s List is missing the distinct wit that has made Austen’s books so enduring. Writers have been trying for hundreds of years to mimic her cleverness, mostly to mixed results. Perhaps Mr. Malcolm’s List could have reached Austen’s unique sense (and sensibility) had the film been trimmed down. The meandering pace and seemingly odd tangents make it obvious the movie is an adaptation of a novel. The book’s author, Suzanne Allain, also wrote the screenplay, and she clearly attempted to cram in as much of the book as she could. It seems little thought was given to the movie as a separate piece of writing that needed to exist on its own.
There’s a time and a place for epics about yearning romance. Mr. Malcolm’s List has unfortunately just missed the effect it’s going for. That ineffable charm of Austen that’s often imitated and rarely achieved is essential for this type of film to truly soar.
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