Mr. Malcolm’s List: A 2-Hour Bridgerton Movie!

For those of you who enjoy the Netflix Shonda Rhimes series "Bridgerton," you will probably also like "Mr. Malcolm's List," since it's essentially a two-hour "Bridgerton" movie.  The film is adapted from the 2009 novel by the same name written by Suzanne Allain, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is set in 19th-Century England, in the Regency era.  Jeremy Malcolm (Sope Dirisu) is the season's most eligible bachelor.  He is very wealthy and has a beautiful estate, although he isn't high up on the nobility ladder.  He wants to be married and is dating many of the single women.  Malcolm takes Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) to the opera, but the date is a disaster.  Malcolm dumps her, and Julia is humiliated.  She wants revenge! One of Julia's close friends, Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), is a good friend of Malcolm's.  He knows that Malcolm has a secret list of ten qualities that he is seeking in a wife, and he won't settle for any woman who doesn't meet all ten!  Lord Cassidy sees the list and tells Julia the ten qualities any potential bride must possess.  Julia enlists her close childhood friend, the beautiful Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto), into pretending that she is the woman of Malcolm's dreams by revealing to him all of these qualities, even though she doesn't meet all ten of them, either. The film is formulaic and predictable, but it is well done and it will hold your interest.  Ms. Pinto is excellent, as usual, and the ensemble cast does a fine job.  This movie wouldn't be at the top of my "list," but it has some nice qualities, such as consistently amusing, intelligent dialogue, occasional clever humor, and great costumes.