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Writer's pictureBen Turner

The Critic ***


Starring: Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch, Ramola Garai, Lesley Manville

Director: Anand Tucker

Country: UK

UK Distributor: Lionsgate

 

In the new film from Anand Tucker (Hilary & Jackie), Ian McKellen (The Lord Of The Rings, X-Men) stars as a vicious theatre critic in 1930s London, based on the novel ‘Curtain Call’ by Anthony Quinn.


Jimmy Erskine (McKellen) has made stars and broken careers with his caustic and cutting reviews of the stage. Alongside his secretary and lover (Enoch – Harry Potter), they attend every premiere, where its stars know that his opinion will create the success or failure of their show. Actress Nina Land (Arterton – Quantum Of Solace, The King’s Man) is yet to receive his favour, despite the annoyance of his owner of his publication (Strong – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Zero Dark Thirty). But when Erskine is arrested for homosexuality and summarily dismissed from his newspaper, the Machiavellian critic orchestrates a scheme using Nina to get his job back.


This has all the trappings of a really interesting thriller, revolving around the power and manipulation of theatre critics. And it starts off well, establishing Erskine as an unpleasant antihero, willing to trample on anyone for his own gains. But as his scheme begins to unfold it all becomes somewhat… predictable. For all its work at establishing a villain, McKellen is criminally underused because he doesn’t have much villainy to get his teeth stuck into.


The setting of the 1930s West End is certainly curious to see on screen, while the subplots of Erskine’s sexuality actually serve to make him more likeable. With gay people living in plain sight in the theatre world, it’s interesting to see the delicate balance they were forced to find between the law and living authentic lives. But for all this, its plodding pace and straight-forward execution mean that The Critic, ironically, can only fall foul of the critics it, well, critiques.


Erskine is a complex character - a gay man playing a dangerous game, making enemies among the very people that keep his sexuality a secret from the authorities - and McKellen is resplendent in the role. And while his acerbic take-downs of the acting elite are pearl-clutchingly harsh, a catty script cannot save a straight-forward story that's as predictable as a wet British February.


UK Release: Out now in cinemas, released by Lionsgate 

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