The Big Picture

Marmalade
is a surprising and complex romantic comedy thriller with twisty plot developments.
Joe Keery delivers a standout performance as the dim Southern mailman at the center of the film.
Camila Morrone and Aldis Hodge also shine in their roles, and first-time director Keir O’Donnell expertly handles the surprises.

Marmalade starts off as the umpteenth variation on Bonnie and Clyde — a Southern-fried true romance about two chaotic young lovers (Joe Keery’s incredibly dumb mailman and Camila Morrone’s fiery free spit) who decide to rob a bank. Then, the film’s plot shifts and darkens when it becomes clear that Marrone isn’t playing a crime-happy Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but rather a character who is far more diabolical than she first appears. That was when I started to warm up to Marmalade’s more subversive intentions. And THEN the movie’s story shifts again, bending in ways that had seemed inconceivable just 60 minutes prior. All of a sudden, we’re not in Bonnie and Clyde land anymore; we’re in Plot Twist City. And I think I kind of loved it?!

But as with all movies that pile on twist after twist until it feels like you’re watching a narrative high-wire act, I was also left with a few questions — ones that I can’t begin to address in this review lest I spoil the fun for everyone else watching. Let’s just say that Marmalade is not the movie you think it’s going to be, and its ultimate critical fate will probably rely on how well those questions get answered upon repeated viewings. But as far as that first-time watch goes? Well, it’s hard to dispute that this film is a heck of a lot of fun and an impressive first directorial feature from actor Keir O’Donnell.

Marmalade Follows a man in jail who narrates the colorful tale of a romantic bank heist to his cunning cellmate to escape and reunite with the alluring love of his life.Release Date February 8, 2024 Director Keir O’Donnell Runtime 99 minutes Main Genre Drama

What Is ‘Marmalade’ About?

In Marmalade, Keery plays a small-town idiot named Baron, who is described by a local as “dumber than a box of crayons.” He delivers mail while riding his bicycle but gets fired from his post-office job for not cutting his long, shaggy head of hair. His life revolves around caring for his ailing mother, who’s terribly sick and only hanging on thanks to some pricey meds that keep getting pricier. Baron is also lonely … which is why he’s immediately smitten when Morrone’s Marmalade enters his life. A sexy, red-haired firebrand who seems way too into Baron, Marmalade immediately entangles herself into Baron’s life. She’s the girl of his dreams, a role she is wholeheartedly willing to fill. Eventually, though, Marmalade also proves to be a petty thief and liar, and when Baron can no longer afford to buy the pills his mother desperately needs, she’s a little too quick to suggest a bank robbery.

Okay, so here’s one plot point I can give away: The story I just told you is also a story Baron himself tells in the movie. See, the movie is built around a time-shifting framing device, one where Baron has already been arrested for a robbery gone sideways and is sitting in jail with Otis, a cell-mate played by Aldis Hodge. Otis is a notorious escape artist, and Baron is telling this story to convince him to bust them both out so that Baron can reunite with his one true love. There are also hundreds of thousands of stolen bank dollars still out there, which entices Otis even more. So, in its first half, Marmalade offers up a story within a story that’s largely dependent on how the narrator (in this case, Baron) tells it. This leads to fun little visual gags, like certain scenes rewinding and then playing out differently as Baron clarifies things that Otis originally misunderstands. It also means that the viewer eventually finds themselves tracking two stories: Baron and Marmalade’s doomed bank robbery and Baron and Otis’ planned prison escape. Let’s just say neither of these things plays out like you might expect them to.

Joe Keery Finds Himself a Second Star-Making Role in ‘Marmalade’

Image via Signature Entertainment

Marmalade is definitely one of those movies that is best enjoyed going in completely blind. So you know what? I’m just going to stop talking about the movie’s story and start talking about Joe Keery instead. Over the course of Stranger Things’ four seasons, it’s been fun to watch Keery’s Steve Harrington evolve from the “stereotypical popular jock” into the show’s best and most well-rounded character. But so many young actors hit a wall once they start to cross over into adult roles and attempt to branch out beyond the project that made them a star. While Millie Bobby Brownjoined the MonsterVerse and launched a second Netflix franchise, and Finn Wolfhard jumped into another ’80s-related juggernaut while also dabbling in behind-the-camera work, Keery has chosen a more interesting path as an actor. His immediate pre-Marmalade film credits include an Italian period drama (Finalmente l’alba), a Ryan Reynolds original IP blockbuster (Free Guy), and a tiny black-comedy/horror film (Spree). More notably, he recently turned up in the fifth season of Noah Hawley’s Fargo, playing a racist, faux-tough-guy young cop who’s really just desperate to please his overly corrupt father. That role showed off Keery’s expanding range, and he impressively held his own in a cast that was stacked with the likes of Jon Hamm, Juno Temple, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Marmalade feels like a good next step after Fargo, as he’s back at the center of the stage here. For a while, Baron feels like a cartoon character that Keery inhabits with ease. He adopts a lazy Southern drawl to sketch out a town idiot who’s pure of soul but makes Steve Harrington look like a Mensa member. You really feel bad for the guy once Marmalade starts twisting the hooks she’s got in him. But, again, there’s so much more to this story that would be criminal for me to talk about here, and, as the movie progresses, Keery starts getting to hit some other notes that he handles just as well. By the time the credits roll, it kind of feels like you just bore witness to Keery’s second breakout performance. He also benefits from two good supporting turns. Morrone delivers loud blasts of sex and sin in equal measure. Meanwhile, Hodge gets to tackle a role that also proves to be more layered than it first appears, and he ends up hilariously delivering some of the film’s more overtly comic bits.

This feels a bit like a “calling card” movie for O’Donnell, a character actor who is still probably most known for playing Rachel McAdams’ weird brother in Wedding Crashers. O’Donnell wrote the flashy script for Marmalade in addition to directing, and it’s not disingenuous to compare what he’s doing here to what M. Night Shyamalan did with The Sixth Sense or Christopher McQuarrie with The Usual Suspects. This is a movie that starts off simple enough but ends up having a lot of moving parts. O’Donnell is deftly able to keep Marmalade on the tracks, even when it takes some sudden, jolting turns (of both the narrative and tonal varieties) that might derail a less competently run production. It’s also a great-looking movie with a bright and colorful style. I don’t expect it will take long for him to lock down funding for his second feature.

Some other bigger films with stories that are twist-heavy, including Argylle and I.S.S., have dropped into theaters this year but found little audience enthusiasm. Marmalade does not merit the same fate. This is a movie that deserves to be discovered, to be recommended to friends, and to develop a cult following that lingers on. It’s just too much fun to settle for less.

Marmalade REVIEWMarmalade is a twisty and darkly comic thriller that deserves to be discovered with another star turn from Joe Keery. ProsWhat looks like another Bonnie and Clyde update turns out to be something far more complex and intriguing.Joe Keery gives a standout lead performance, continuing the interesting work he’s done in the wake of Stranger Things.Camila Morrone and Aldis Hodge round out a game cast, and first-time writer/director Keir O’Donnell doles out the surprises in a winning fashion. ConsIt’s probably going to take a second viewing to determine if the story really hangs together.

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Marmalade releases in theaters and on demand February 9 in the U.S.

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