Enjoy some wicked humour and a twisty plot in this period thriller drama starring Ian McKellen
Oh, the irony! Critiquing a film about a drama critic. Based on the 2015 novel, Curtain Call, by Anthony Quinn, The Critic is a period thriller drama with wicked humour and a twisty plot, not to mention sumptuous costumes and an all-star cast.
Ian McKellen is on fine form as Jimmy Erskine, an acerbic, conniving and brutally honest newspaper theatre critic in 1930’s London. He spends most of the film in black tie with a white cashmere scarf draped casually around his neck as I imagine all theatre critics did in those days. Alongside his scathing reviews of the latest productions in the West End, Erskine’s overt flouting of the law in relation to his sexuality (“Kiss me you gorgeous bastard!”) lands him in hot water thus relieving him of his already precarious position at The Daily Chronicle, run by owner Viscount David Brooke (Mark Strong).
Desperate to fight for his position at the newspaper and the lavish lifestyle that accompanies it, he enlists the help of glamorous actress, Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), to manipulate the married yet 'besotted' Viscount into sleeping with her in order for Erskine to blackmail him. In return, the critic promises his new protegee that he will only ever write glowing reviews of her performances having previously tarnished her reputation with spiteful write ups; “Over the last ten years, you have compared me to livestock, creatures of the sea and an extinct bird!”
this quirky period drama changes course entirely to a dark thriller with a deranged McKellan getting deeper and deeper into a Shakespearean tragedy of his own making
The film loses pace in the middle and the initial flow becomes static with one scene simply following another until a juicy conversation in a gentleman’s club between the Viscount and his son in law, who, incidentally, is also Land’s married lover… From here on in the pace resumes and this quirky period drama changes course entirely to a dark thriller with a deranged McKellen getting deeper and deeper into a Shakespearean tragedy of his own making.
Romola Garai is criminally underused in the supporting role of the Viscount’s daughter. As much as I enjoyed Arterton’s performance, Garai would have brought greater depth to the lead female role. McKellen is by far the star of the show, and you can tell he’s having a great time essentially playing an exaggerated version of himself. It is nice to see him at his most vivacious following his recent fall off stage at the Noel Coward Theatre whilst playing Falstaff in Player Kings which he is currently recovering from.
At times, a somewhat disjointed film with pacing issues but an interestingly devilish concept with a satisfactory ending.
The Critic plays at Broadway Cinema until Sunday 29 September
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