Film Reviews

John Maguire: Pleasant period comedy is fizzy but predictable

Filmed in Ireland, Mr Malcolm’s List has plenty of wit and verve despite its unexceptional plotting

Sope Dirisu and Freida Pinto in Mr Malcolm’s List: the film has all the wit and verve it needs to precisely channel the spirit of its age and ours

If we’ve learned anything from the phenomenal success of Regency romcom Bridgerton, it is that a ravenous audience exists for fabulously frocked updates to 200-year-old stories of class, romance and fortune. Bright, sexy and unashamedly modern, this show is the most-viewed in Netflix’s history, the undisputed GOAT (greatest of all time) as Jane Austen might have put it.

There also exists an entire subset of recalculated period romantic comedies (from Love & Friendship to the ...