The Critic (2024, dir. Anand Tucker)

by Jack Martin | Sep 22, 2024

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 101 mins

UK Distributor: Lionsgate

UK Release Date: 13 September 2024

WHO’S IN THE CRITIC?

Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Lesley Manville, Romola Garai, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch, Nikesh Patel, Jay Simpson, Claire Skinner, Rebecca Gethings

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Anand Tucker (director), Patrick Marber (writer), David Gilbery, Bill Kenwright and Jolyon Symonds (producers), Craig Armstrong (composer), David Higgs (cinematographer), John Gilbert and Beverley Mills (editors)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A scathing theatre critic (McKellen) is drawn down a darkly vindictive path…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE CRITIC?

Though us critics do try and give as balanced an opinion as we can on whatever is thrown our way, our portrayal in media itself is, well, not the kindest. In some cases, it’s understandably so, especially by artists who may have previously been the subject of scathing reviews. Roland Emmerich, for instance, famously modelled a pair of antagonistic characters in his 1998 film Godzilla after legendary critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, in response to both of them trashing the director’s Independence Day (though Ebert is quoted as being more offended by the fact that neither his nor Siskel’s counterparts ended up getting stomped on in that film).

For the most part, though, critics are depicted in a less favourable light in most media, from Statler and Wardolf from The Muppets to Anton Ego in Ratatouille, and that certainly doesn’t change with director Anand Tucker’s The Critic, a film that depicts those who review for a living as conniving, ambitious, and downright malicious beasts. Funnily enough, it’s also one of the kinder depictions, in a film that revels in campy melodrama to amusing, if not always solid, results.

The critic at the centre of, erm, The Critic, is Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen), a renowned and highly influential theatre critic for a conservative newspaper in 1930s London. Along with his more mannered assistant Tom (Alfred Enoch), Erskine revels in penning acidic reviews for plays and actors that do not meet his standards, with struggling performer Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) often being the target for his written cruelty. However, after his newspaper is taken over by the wealthy Viscount David Brooke (Mark Strong), Erskine’s job is on the line, with the critic soon prompted to approach Land to enable a sinister plan that will secure his job for good, and in return for her cooperation he will effectively transform her into the star that she has always wanted to be.

Working from a script by Patrick Marber, who in turn adapts the 2015 novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn (himself a former critic), Tucker leans hard into the salacious nature of his lead character, whose penchant for cruelty, and his unapologetic enjoyment of it, apparently knows no limits. Jimmy Erskine is the kind of anti-hero who is written to have less and less humanity as the story goes along, which is saying something since he’s already a pretty nasty figure to begin with, but there is some enjoyment to get out of how cartoonishly over-the-top evil he can be, to a point where you start to wonder if Tucker or Marber, or even Quinn, have their own personal Emmerich-like vendetta against critics (then again, given that the last film Tucker directed was the much-maligned 2010 Amy Adams rom-com Leap Year, it wouldn’t be all that surprising).

Getting a heavily theatrical performer like Ian McKellen to play this part was a smart decision, for this is the kind of character that could only feel real if they’re played with such grandiosity that one would expect from the stage. McKellen is having a blast in the role, wherein he gets to deliver some venomous lines with the campy nature of a villain from the 60s Batman television show, and his commitment to the part is clear at all times, making him the primary source of entertainment in a film that is otherwise flimsy in its overall nature.

The plot that McKellen’s Erskine is rather convoluted, with certain aspects of it relying on specific events happening in an exact order for it to be successful, which can push it deep into far-fetched territory, especially later on as particular motives aren’t even being hid anymore. There are also some side characters who are significantly less interesting and grind the movie to a near-halt whenever they’re on-screen, such as Ben Barnes as a married artist involved with Arterton’s Nina, and Lesley Manville as the latter’s mother who unfortunately doesn’t get much to do other than dip her hand into McKellen’s nuts at one point (not as dirty as it sounds). Other themes and potential ideas, such as an exploration of right-wing ideals in the police force as they round up suspected gay men like Erskine, are initially promising but are dropped as soon as they are introduced.

It’s a messy and rather silly thriller, one that admirably doesn’t seem too ashamed by its overly melodramatic nature, but those hoping for more nuance in a film about a vengeful critic won’t really get that here. It’s fun to watch an actor like McKellen have fun going so over-the-top theatrical in a role like this, though there is only so much that such a performance can mask the much larger flaws on display. Worst of all, it’s unlikely to do anything to give critics a better name within the media, for we’re not all as malicious and vindictive as the one in this movie (at least, we hope that we aren’t).

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Critic is a silly and rather messy thriller that shines brightest when it is allowed to wallow in its over-the-top campy nature, as expressed through a fun theatrical turn by Ian McKellen.