Marmalade (2024) Movie Review – A fun crime comedy with some surprising twists and turns

A fun crime comedy with some surprising twists and turns

I’ve never enjoyed marmalade. It’s bitter, hard to swallow, and it looks unappetising. I much prefer jam, so if any reader has a passion for making fruit preserves, they now know what to send me.

It’s not just my dislike for marmalade that initially put me off the 2024 movie ‘Marmalade.’ On the surface, it looked like just another heist movie with an unappetising blend of crime thriller and comedy elements. We have seen too many of these over the recent past, many of which have been filled with bitter characters out for revenge on their teammates or the system. Predictable then, just like the tangy food stuff! 

As such, my expectation of ‘Marmalade’ (the film) was not unlike my expectation of eating marmalade, not that I would ever sit down to eat it anymore. 

But would the film be as intolerable as that citrusy fruit preserve? Mercifully no, though it does contain one plot twist that some might find hard to swallow. This doesn’t make the film any less enjoyable, however. There is enough good stuff in ‘Marmalade’ to make it worth a watch, despite its odd ingredients.

Making his film-directing debut with ‘Marmalade’ is Keir O’Donnell, an actor you may recognise from such movies as Ambulance, American Sniper, and Wedding Crashers. He’s acted in such TV shows as Fargo and High Desert as well. 

The film stars Joe Keery (Stranger Things) as Baron, a man we are introduced to on his first day in prison. He appears to be a gormless, slightly confused man – an innocent who may have been led astray before he was given time for a crime he didn’t want to commit.

As it turns out, that’s exactly how his background story unfurls, which he relates to his cellmate Otis (Aldis Hodge) who takes a vested interest in his new prison pal. Baron tells him about a girl he met – the Marmalade of the title – played in the movie by Camila Morrone (Gonzo Girl). We then get flashbacks to how he and Marmalade first met. 

After making a connection with the free-wheeling Marmalade, Baron falls into an intimate relationship with her. He also introduces her to his mother, who is dying and in urgent need of a medicine that he can’t readily afford. 

Marmalade has a plan to help Baron get the cash he needs, one that involves robbing banks and the occasional store. Baron isn’t as comfortable as carrying a gun as she is, largely because he’s a sweet kid who is friendly to all and inexperienced when it comes to matters of crime. 

However, there is more to his story than meets the eye. While some of what he tells Otis is true, other aspects of his story are a little fanciful. It would be remiss of us to tell you more than that as there are twists in this story that you need to discover for yourself.

For some, the rug pulls the story presents may be a little hard to swallow – as we mentioned earlier – but if you allow yourself to get carried away in the craziness of it all, you may be able to stomach the film’s surprising turns. 

For the first hour or so, the film follows the conventional path of two young lovers on a crime spree. Theirs is not quite a Bonnie and Clyde story as violence is kept to a minimum and there is no body count to speak of. The film is light and fun, with several comical moments that will put a smile on your face. That being said, there is a dark subplot, though this doesn’t over-balance the film’s tone too much. 

The last section of the film is less conventional. When Otis plots a prison escape so he can profit from Baron’s exploits with Marmalade, the truth of Baron’s story is revealed and we are forced to question everything we have seen and heard thus far. The final act then becomes a cat-and-mouse tale, with further plot twists that bend the illusion of reality. 

As the film approaches its end, matters do become a little complicated. Some might even say implausible. However, it’s the spirited performance of Joe Keery that keeps us invested in the story as he is never less than interesting to watch on screen. He’s no stranger to comical crime flicks – he previously starred as a murderous rideshare driver in the black comedy Spree – and he’s an engaging presence, as fans of his work in Stranger Things will testify. 

Camila Morrone as the titular character gives a great performance too. As Marmalade, she is sweet and charming one moment and wild and aggressive the next. The unpredictability of her character means we never know what to expect from scene to scene, although her role in the film eventually diminishes as the plot twists and turns towards the conclusion. 

I will never eat marmalade again. It’s intolerable. However, I do have an incentive to rewatch ‘Marmalade.’ While I don’t think it’s an amazing film, I enjoyed my time with it and I’m curious to see it again to catch any hidden details. A sequel would not be unwelcome, unlike any delivery of marmalade that might wrongfully turn up at my door!

 

Read More: Marmalade Ending Explained

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