No one is likeable – and David Duchovny is perfectly hateable – in this bingeable thriller

2 weeks ago 5

Malice ★★★★

Fans of British actor and comedian Jake Whitehall, best known for playing arrogant but loveable types – as the arrogant JP in Fresh Meat and incompetent teacher Alfie in Bad Education – should brace themselves for his unnerving role in this British psychological thriller.

Whitehall stars as Adam, a private tutor to wealthy (really wealthy) families, who inveigles his way into the lives of obnoxious venture capitalist Jamie Tanner (David Duchovny, in top form) and his fashion designer wife Nat (Game of Thrones′ Carice van Houten).

Jake Whitehall (standing), with (clockwise from left) Carice van Houten, Raza Jaffrey, Christine Adams and David Duchovny in Malice.

He’s working as a tutor for Jamie and Nat’s friends Damien (Raza Jaffrey) and Jules (Christine Adams), when he turns up at the Tanners’ lavish house on an unspecified Greek Island, ostensibly there to help their kids with schoolwork during the summer break. (Yes, it seems unlikely – even Duchovny’s Jamie is baffled – but you’ll need to just go with it.)

Adam soon endears himself to the Tanner kids: Kit (Harry Gilby), Jamie’s troubled son from an earlier marriage, daughter April (Teddie Allen), and the youngest and nine-year-old Dexter (Phoenix Laroche), who is often belittled by alpha male Jamie. It’s not just the kids Adam charms, the adults are won over, too.

He makes a mean cocktail, reels off fascinating titbits about Greek mythology, banters about poetry and happily chips in with housework, even when there’s a dedicated maid at the property. He’s also quietly flirty with the women, which doesn’t hurt.

Jamie Tanner played by David Duchovny in Malice.

We know from the outset though, that Adam has landed this job for a specific reason, and has it in for the arrogant, entitled Jamie – and that he’s fled another job under suspicious circumstances after he’s questioned by Customs officials en route to Greece – we just don’t know why.

When Adam contrives it so that he doesn’t leave Greece with Jules and Damien, he’s soon poached by Nat to become a full-time “manny” for the Tanners, and moves into their London house, where he ramps up his scheming to bring Jamie down.

His obliging sister (Charlotte Riley) has forged a job reference for him, and she makes some oblique allusions to Adam having been “unwell”, but we don’t learn much about his background until the very end – by which time he’s committed all manner of heinous acts (against people and animals).

There are obvious similarities with the charming conman of Ripley, and the wealth porn of The White Lotus, and Malice does both of these motifs well: Duchovny’s Jamie is a perfectly hateable multimillionaire, and Nat, while infinitely more likeable, also exists in a rarefied world between her job as a fashion designer and the couple’s opulent homes. There are plenty of drool-inducing visuals, from the Greek Islands holiday estate to Nat’s designer wardrobe. And Whitehall is surprisingly convincing as he switches between erudite charmer and creepy psychopath, sometimes in the same breath.

But the plot suffers from a few holes, and what feels like a rushed ending. Some narrative choices inhibit the tension, and there’s some occasional heavy-handed symbolism.

But the underdog-bringing-down-the-wealthy story is great fun, and although there are few likeable characters, Duchovny and Whitehall are terrific, and at just six episodes it’s classic binge viewing.