Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton lead The Critic in style but the end product is rather underwhelming
“We’re discussing the extremity of your style”
Directed by Anand Tucker and written by Patrick Marber from Anthony Quinn’s 2015 novel Curtain Call, The Critic has taken its fair time to arrive in the UK after premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023. It opened in cinemas in September 2024 and as it arrives on streaming, I thought I’d give it a shot – a film about a theatre critic? whatever could interest me there….
It starts promisingly. Sir Ian McKellen plays Jimmy Erskine, the theatre critic for The Daily Chronicle who slavishly enjoys crafting his waspish put-downs and his lofty social stature in 1930s London theatreland. As a queer man at a time when being queer was illegal, his own life isn’t without jeopardy and when a change in management at the paper threatens his position, the film swings into lurid thriller territory.
Gemma Arterton is super as Nina Land, an actress who Erskine has been particularly vitriolic towards but who he is able to manipulate into doing his bidding in return for the promise of good reviews forevermore. In order to get blackmail material on his new boss Viscount Brooke (Mark Strong), he presses her to seduce him so he can wangle his job back. Brooke also happens to be the father-in-law of artist Stephen (Ben Barnes), with whom Nina is already having an affair, and so an already tangled web becomes increasingly messy.
Arguably, The Critic is less successful as a thriller than a study of the questionable mindset of anyone who writes about theatre. A key element here is the thinness in characterisation for so many of the supporting players. Lesley Manville is completely wasted as Nina’s mum and Romola Garai is highly underserved as Stephen’s wife Cora but more crucially, someone like Alfred Enoch’s Tom – Jimmy’s “secretary” or lover – is given no chance to evoke the long relationship that they’re meant to have shared, resulting in a distinct lack of punch to the ending.
Tucker’s direction doesn’t help matters much either, giving us a choppy affair (a sign of reshoots perhaps…?) which fudges key reveals and underplays what little drama there is. The result is something that feels rather disjointed and which leaves a sour taste in the mouth, despite some good performances therein. Rest assured though, the lessons about the ego of the critic are certainly heeded ;-).
