The streaming hit “Bridgerton” has opened a new style of period romance, a fantasy historical romance in which bits of anachronism are plainly on view and color-blind casting enlivens interest. In that show, tales of romance feature essentially-modern people, dressed in the colorful costumes of Jane Austen’s time, pursuing love under the rules of that time period – well, some of the rules. MR. MALCOLM’S LIST is a Regency romance following “Bridgerton’s” lead with the color-blind casting but without the anachronisms, for a romantic romp with an attractive cast in a story that blends elements of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.”
Director Emma Holly Jones makes her feature film debut with MR. MALCOLM’S LIST, adapting Suzanne Allain’s novel and with a script written by the author. The film provides plenty of snappy dialog and intriguing situations, all set in beautiful locations, with those lovely costumes and period furnishings. For fans of period romances, MR. MALCOLM’S LIST delivers solid entertainment, although not always in the ways anticipated and with a bit more humor than might be expected.
Zawe Ashton stars as Julia Thistlewaite, a wealthy and pretty young woman who has a high opinion of herself but is less charming and well-informed as she thinks she is. Julia had set her sights on the season’s most eligible bachelor, the rich but aloof Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpe Dìrísu), but after briefly capturing his attention, she is dropped. Stung by the snub, and particularly a publicly-circulating cartoon satirizing it, she is particularly outraged when she learns, through her cousin, Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), that Mr. Malcolm has a secret list of requirements for a potential wife, and she failed to make the grade. Julia determines to get revenge, and calls on an old school friend, Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto), a country girl and the daughter of a vicar, to help her. Julia’s plan is to remake her friend into the perfect match for Mr. Malcolm’s list but after he falls for her, have her then spurn him for not meeting the requirements of her own list. Sweet, innocent Selina initially balks at this scheme but is persuaded when Julia appeals for her help based on their long friendship.
After outfitting the less-affluent Selina with fashionable new clothes, coaching her in dancing, and a little brush-up on current political issues like the corn laws, Julia arranges a meeting with Mr Malcolm at a ball. It all goes better than hoped. When handsome Captain Henry Ossory (Theo James) turns up shortly afterwards, with his own plans to court Selina, things look even better in Julia’s eyes. What she fails to note that Selina and Mr. Malcolm really are attracted to each other.
Of course, where this goes is no surprise but the fun in this kind of tale is in the characters themselves. But the thing is that in this Austen-esque drama, it is the supporting characters who are much more interesting than the couple supposedly at the center of the plot.
Zawe Ashton’s Julia is positioned to be the villain but Ashton is so funny and so human in her failings that we easily fall for her flawed character. Likewise, Oliver Jackson-Cohen’s charmingly lazy Lord Cassidy, as his cousin’s reluctant partner in this plot, amuses and entertains us with his quirkiness. Theo James as the handsome captain becomes more of presence, charming us with his insights and steady nature as he slowly shifting his attentions towards the plotting Julia. On the other hand, Freida Pinto’s Selina is just too pure and sweet to have much depth, and Sope Dirisu’s Jeremy Malcolm remains so reserved that it is hard to connect with him. Unlike Austen’s Mr. Darcy, he never opens up much and the character does not win us over in the same way.
The re-direction of our interests to supporting characters may have been the director’s plan all along, but a little more depth for the purported main characters would have made this period romance a bit more fun.
Certainly, the actors have the chops to do that (if unfamiliar with Sope Dirisu, check out the amount of magic he generates in his very small role in another costume drama, MOTHERING SUNDAY). But the delightful Zawe Ashton more than makes up for those thinner characters, turning her clueless, selfish Julia from a source of humor into someone we care about and cheer as she evolves.
There are other entertaining supporting characters to add to the entertainment, a footman and a maid, Selina’s embarrassingly outre’ widowed cousin Mrs. Covington (Ashley Park), Julia’s exasperated mother Mrs. Thistlewaite (Naoko Mori) and, particularly delightful in a smaller role, Dona Croll as Jeremy Malcolm’s regal mother Lady Kilbourne. The film, shot on location in Ireland, looks gorgeous, packed with beautiful scenery, lush interiors and lovely colorful costumes.
It’s not Jane Austen but MR MALCOLM’S LIST has enough fun to keep “Bridgerton” and other period romance fans happy.
MR MALCOLM’S LIST opens in theaters on Friday, July 1.
RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars
