The Critic

The director, fully aware of how bad the movie is, had 350 people from the Philippines give it a 10/10 rating (check the voting statistics if you like).

The Critic keeps a respectful distance from its material, favoring neat dramatic ironies over shocking twists or raw, anguished revelations. Perhaps the harshest criticism one could level against it-something Jimmy, the self-proclaimed judge of creative genius, might find particularly insulting-is that the film is far too polite and cautious for a portrayal of such a ruthless character.

Movie is thankfully short, yet it still feels drawn out. Its appeal will likely be limited to older audiences drawn by McKellen's name and the subject matter, offering them mildly engaging streaming content.

Greetings again from the darkness. After the lukewarm reception at last year's Toronto Film Festival, and complaints about the ending, director Anand Tucker (SHOPGIRL 2005, HILLARY AND JACKIE 1998) called the cast back for re-shoots. Oscar nominated writer Patrick Marber (NOTES ON A SCANDAL, 2006) adapted the 2015 novel, "Curtain Call", by Anthony Quinn (a former film critic, not related to the two-time Oscar winner with the same name). Although I can't comment on the original version, this one provides a bit of entertainment.

The famous saying, "Everyone is a critic", holds true because everyone has an opinion (reminding us of yet another famous saying). However, this story takes place during a much different time. We are transported back to 1936 London where we find Jimmy Erskine (two-time Oscar nominee Sir Ian McKellen) is the powerful and feared theater critic for "The Daily Chronicle". He's arrogant and brusque, and super-talented with the twisting of words and turning of phrases. His reviews are eagerly awaited and can make or break a show or career - sometimes in a humiliating manner.

Erskine flaunts his ego like the cashmere scarf around his neck. He claims, for critics, "only the greats are remembered", and he fully intends to be remembered. When the proprietor of the paper suddenly passes away, his stuffy son David Brooke (the always dependable Mark Strong) likes the idea of moving on from the old ways and creating a more contemporary publication. With 40 years of loyalty, Erskine is spared, despite his continued bashing of Brooke's favorite stage actor, Nina Land (Gemma Arterton, TAMARA DREWE, 2010). Two things of consequence soon occur. First, Nina confronts Erskine to his face (a rare occurrence). Secondly, Erskine is fired after a public incident exposes the dark secrets of his life.

These two events lead Erskine to invoke a savage scheme of manipulation and deadly blackmail in hopes of regaining his job. This plan entices Nina to cut a deal with the proverbial devil. The film features a strong supporting cast, though most are unfortunately not given enough to do. Nina's supportive mother is played by the always terrific Lesley Manville (Oscar nominated for PHANTOM THREAD, 2016); Alfred Enoch (the "Harry Potter" franchise) plays Tom Turner, Erskine's live-in secretary; Nina's lover Stephen is played by Ben Barnes (who has been off doing TV and music since 2014); Ramola Garai plays Stephen's wife, while Beau Gadsdon and Claire Skinner also appear.

This is pre-WWII London and director Tucker offers nods to the times regarding homosexuality and racism, and even throws in a jab at fascism when Erskine bellows, "fascists come and go, but theater is forever." Tucker also "treats" us to quite a sight: Sir Ian in the bathtub. This is certainly a story about ego and power, but also one of morality. Does talent afford privilege? Of course it did then, as it does now. But no amount of talent or ego should quash the good in people.

Opening in theaters on September 13, 2024.

If you saw Sir Ian McKellen with fellow thesp Sir Derek Jacobi in the television sitcom "Vicious" from around ten years ago, you'll be able to anticipate the gist of his characterisation of the acerbic theatre critic "Erskine" who is way more famed for distributing bile rather than bouquets. His new boss (Mark Strong) wants the newspaper to appeal to an altogether more wholesome family audience and so wants him to tone things down a bit. "Yeah, right" thinks he - and then his own behaviour gets him into trouble with the police and given one month's notice from his job. Facing looming ignominy, he determines to get the lowdown on his ostensibly pure as the driven snow aristocratic proprietor and to that end recruits aspiring actress "Nina" (Gemma Arterton) of whom he has been much less than flattering in the past. Rather gullibly, she agrees to become a pawn in his manipulate game that leads to a series of misadventures and thence to a tragedy that maybe puts the role of opinionated curmudgeon into perspective. This starts of quite entertainingly with plenty of pith and ghastliness from the star, but very quickly it descends into an entirely far-fetched and rather disappointing affair (no pun intended) that plays to just about every stereotype as it rather sadly sets out to prove that the best bits are all in the trailers. At it's best, the writing does make you smile and writhe a little uncomfortably in your cinema seat, but for the most part it's just predicable with characters that it's fairly easy not to like - except, maybe, Alfred Enoch's factotum "Tom" whom at least starts off with some shred of human decency to counter "Erskine" and his selfishness. Ben Barnes shows he is ageing well but again hasn't really enough of a part to work with developing his lovestruck character and Strong is really anything but. It does look good, but it's too reliant on a shock factor that isn't so very original and that soon peters out.

It's 1934, you're in London. You go see a play in a theatre. You see an old man writing vigorously in a notebook. This man is a critic, somebody with the power to raise an actress's career to stardom or send it crashing down around them. This is the premise of the newly released British period drama called THE CRITIC. Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellan) is a gay theatre critic for the Daily Chronicle, which is undergoing drastic changes since its leader passed away, giving the reigns to the son, David Brooke (Mark Strong). Worried about the old guard being fired, Jimmy does everything he can to keep his job. Actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) gets caught up in his schemes, forming a strange relationship. Escalation ensues! In an interview, McKellan has described his character perfectly using only one word, curdled. Jimmy has become rotten to the core, brutally mean in his critiques, manipulative and selfish to the people around him. McKellan does such a great job in the role he made me hate Ian! This movie has some pacing issues for me. It's a very slow burn, and then it rushes too fast near the end. They also don't do a good enough job in establishing the relationships between certain characters. Sometimes I didn't know who was who to who. I heard from somewhere that they had done some rewrites and reshoots, which might explain some things, I just didn't get enough payoff from the slow burn. I still highly recommend this movie simply for seeing Ian McKellan in a very interesting role and having a very fun time doing it.

I had hoped for so much more from The Critic due to its premise, title and cast. I was bitterly disappointed. The pointless and fruitless direction of this film is frustrating. We see a random array of events that add little to no value. It seems like we are watching a bunch of uneventful situations playout, I found myself asking so what? Humanity is not great at times but why did we need to see a film about this and how on earth did this get the green light? Where was the payoff or purpose? Veteran actor, Ian Mckellen, gives a solid performance but it is not enough to save this pitiful excuse of a film.