Since the rather meager rom-com “Engagement in a Detour” in 2010, “Shopgirl” director Anand Tucker had not directed a feature film for the big screen, but had worked exclusively on TV. With the thriller drama anchored in 1930s London “The Critic”an adaptation of the novel “Curtain Call” by Anthony Quinn, he is now back. There is a reason for the title change compared to the template. Screenwriter Patrick Marber (“Closer”) only picked out parts of the novel’s plot, which developed towards a serial killer hunt, and used them to develop his own story about a theater critic. However, the resulting film feels unfocused thematically and narratively.
“The Critic” lurches back and forth between references to classical tragedies and a tabloid-esque nonsense. Topics such as journalistic ethos, the criminalization of homosexuality at the time and the fascist tendencies within British society, which were becoming increasingly relevant at this time, are addressed. However, nothing is really done with it, which leaves a rather dull impression in the end. The crime drama lives almost exclusively from the insidious charisma of its title character, portrayed by “The Lord of the Rings” star Ian McKellen with noticeable delight in her arrogance and malice. But even that unfortunately fades at some point after a furious middle part that ultimately gives false hope of an exciting finale.
Jimmy Erskine is looking forward to writing his review when he visits the theater.
London in 1934: Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) the theater critic for The Daily Chronicle. The newspaper's readers love his biting, often downright damning reviews of everything that is on offer on the stages of the Westend. However, when the editor of the paper dies, his son David Brooke (Mark Strong) takes over the helm. Junior, no longer very young, is nowhere near as amused by Jimmy's articles as his old man was. He's just waiting to be able to fire the egocentric – not least because the critic has increasingly zeroed in on actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton). While Jimmy tears up each of her performances with glee, the married Brooke secretly adores the attractive actress, who is soon mentally scarred by the persistently damning reviews.
When Jimmy and his assistant and occasional lover Tom (Alfred Enoch) are picked up by the moral police in a dangerous situation, Brooke finally has a reason to ditch the unloved employee. But he doesn't think about retreating without a fight. He promises Land that in the future he will only judge her with praise if she gets into bed with Brooke. So he wants to blackmail his married boss, who has a reputation for integrity, into giving him his job back. This plan is complicated by Land's relationship with Brooke's son-in-law Stephen Wyley (Ben Barnes).
Only thanks to Ian McKellen is there sympathy for the critic
Ian McKellen plays a pompous, narcissistic and manipulative fat guy who loves to trash other people's work with words like arrows. A less talented actor would hardly have been able to generate a hint of sympathy for the title character. And yet, as viewers, we take his side – at least for a while.
After a build-up that spends too much time establishing the character's immediately obvious nature and the other parts that revolve around her, the film finally picks up steam in the middle section. It's fascinating to watch Jimmy spin his wonderfully vile web of sordid intrigue, driving people to the brink (and beyond) – all in order to maintain his extravagant lifestyle and, above all, his social position as London's number one taste pope .
To save his job, Jimmy makes a deal with actress Nina Land.
In the final act, when the protagonist's house of cards threatens to collapse due to a reaction from his opponent that he did not expect, the whole thing then loses momentum again. From this point on, instead of escalating, the story just starts to unravel. The characters of Ben Barnes and Alfred Enoch, who until then had only been involved in Jimmy's game as useful idiots, move into focus and become the moral conscience of the story – without the audience being able to really identify with them. After all, her background is very thinly described up to that point and remains so until the end.
Only Lesley Manville, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2018 for “The Silk Thread,” has even more bad luck with the script. She is completely wasted as the mother of the unfortunate actress played by Gemma Arterton. The noble actress only has three major scenes in which she is only allowed to act as a glorified cue for McKellen, Arterton and Barnes respectively.
Jimmy Erskine would have hated this movie!
Visually, “The Critic” also falls short of the expectations placed on it due to its prominent cast. There is simply no real cinematic feeling. Both the equipment and the rather homely staging and camera work are more reminiscent of – admittedly higher quality – TV productions. Thanks to the historical setting and the limited number of locations, various viewers will automatically think of series like “Agatha Christie's Poirot” or the “Commissioner Maigret” adaptations with Rowan Atkinson that were made a few years ago.
In the end, the most exciting thing is a thought experiment like this. What would the main character of the film have thought of “The Critic”? The answer is probably quite obvious. Jimmy Erskine hates nothing more than mediocrity. That's why he probably wouldn't have left a good hair on this film…
Conclusion: Not even Ian McKellen, who enjoys playing against his Gandalf image, can save this crime drama from irrelevance. Neither the story nor the visual implementation set enough accents.