The Critic – Review

Release Date – 13th September 2024, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 41 minutes, Director – Anand Tucker

After being fired by a new editor for his overly negative reviews, drama critic Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) enlists the help of an actress (Gemma Arterton) he has frequently trashed to help him keep his job.

In recent weeks Sir Ian McKellen has assured audiences that he will not retire “as long as the legs, lungs and mind keep working”. As long as this is the case it seems that we’re on track for more consistently strong performances from the acclaimed actor for some time, even if the projects themselves aren’t the strongest. This is certainly the case for The Critic, which sees McKellen charge forward with a glint in his eye as scheming theatre critic Jimmy Erskine.

For decades Erskine has been a staple of newspaper The Daily Chronicle’s writing staff. Known for his frequently scathing reviews he views his harshness as the reason people read his column, and in part as to why the paper holds its regard. However, when the editor passes away his son (Mark Strong) takes over and looks to make changes, including bringing the Chronicle back to its family roots and properly into the 20th Century, this is the 1930s after all; and that includes sacking anyone who isn’t willing to comply. When this includes Jimmy, told that the paper has no choice after his public displays of ‘unnatural’ homosexual activity, his mind sets instantly to revenge as a way to get his job back.

This involves enlisting the help of actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), who he has slated every performance of, to try and seduce editor David. The development in the relationship between Jimmy and Nina is swift, going from written rivals to face-to-face confrontations before a quick team-up which becomes riddled with doubt and regret the actual teaming up, led by McKellen promising the actress a brighter future as she ages because of positive reviews from him, feels more in place to simply reach the effects and reactions in the later stages. Nina is told that she simply needs to grow her confidence and think less about the audience, as this becomes the case for her Arterton’s performance also becomes more confident, particularly as her character becomes more caught in the narrative web that’s being cast.

It may be easy to see the general directions in which the plot is going, there’s an air of predictability to the overall structure of the plot beats throughout, especially as they open up more for the third act. But, there are still a number of enjoyable throughout. McKellen is clearly enjoying performing some of the wittier lines of a screenplay filled with entertaining snippets of blistering reviews and phrases such as “she besieged me with her opinion!” – a highlight line referring to Lesley Manville’s largely unseen mother to Nina praising the first half of her latest performance in the theatre bar.

It’s only around the halfway point as Jimmy’s plan properly comes into effect that you see how many different layers and strands there are. At times the film begins to feel a bit too busy, although avoids feeling overstuffed, as its various possible, and actual, directions begin to overlap and, albeit often occasionally, tangle into one scene or montage. There’s a watchable nature to most of the proceedings, even if the closing stages feel particularly rushed as almost all final developments appear to happen at once, and certainly there are some highlight entertaining nuggets of dialogue here and there, just the film’s events are hampered by a sense of predictability which gets in the way of some of the overall enjoyment, despite the efforts of the case – particularly another strong turn from McKellen.

While predictability gets in the way of potential entertainment factor there are still some enjoyable elements within The Critic’s tangling web of scheming particularly in some of the dialogue spoken with clear pleasure from a wonderful Ian McKellen.