Critic, The | Reelviews Movie Reviews (original) (raw)
Critic, The (United Kingdom/United States, 2023)
September 12, 2024
The Critic transpires during a time when critics (in this case, theater critics) wielded enormous power. A review in a daily newspaper could ruin a reputation, close a play, or elevate something from obscurity to prosperity. The film occurs in 1934 – in the midst of the Great Depression, before World War II altered the landscape (literally and figuratively) do diminish the influence of someone like Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellan). Although Jimmy is fictional, he is built on a foundation of real-life figures who were simultaneously feared, reviled, and beloved.
In many ways, the background for The Critic is more interesting than the story it tells – a melodrama that starts out fizzy and ends up taking a dark (and somewhat hard-to-swallow) turn into backstabbing and murder. Throughout it all, a spry Ian McKellan, with a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step, seems to be having the time of his life, although that’s not necessarily true for those sitting in the audience.
Jimmy Erskine, the long-time theater critic for The Daily Chronicle, can feel the winds of change blowing – a breeze he steadfastly resists. Jimmy, who for years has built a reputation on the backs of plays hoping to get his seal of approval, is equally known for his vicious take-downs and his lavish lifestyle. Openly gay (or at least as far out of the closet as one could be in the 1930s), Jimmy lives with his secretary, Tom (Alfred Enoch), and pals around with other newspaper writers who have stayed past their “sell by” dates. But that all changes when the paper’s owner dies and his son, David Brooke (Mark Strong) inherits it. David is committed to making changes and, unless he “cleans up” his act, Jimmy could well become a casualty. When Jimmy is arrested on a public indecency charge, he is given his notice…something he won’t take quietly.
Jimmy’s plan involves collaborating with popular actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), a woman whose thespian skills he has often condemned using his most scathing language. Jimmy offers Nina a deal: in exchange for her help in blackmailing David, he will praise her performances in all future reviews. His needs from her are straightforward. David, an upstanding citizen and married man, has long been infatuated with Nina from afar. Jimmy wants her to get a lot closer to him. The illicit sexual liaison will give him the ammunition he needs to force David to keep Jimmy on the payroll (and even give him a raise). But even the best-laid plans sometimes fail to take into account the fact that human beings don’t always behave rationally.
For most of its first half, The Critic comes with a light, fresh feel; it allows McKellan to ham it up in front of the camera with some of the cattiest lines he has uttered on the big screen. There are also some nicely written scenes between McKellan and Gemma Arterton in which the two let down their respective guards. Jimmy talks passionately about what he values on stage and Nina reveals how much Jimmy’s praise would mean to her (not only professionally, but personally as well). However, Patrick Marber’s screenplay demands that director Anand Tucker take the movie along a dark trajectory, transforming the high-brow soap opera into a thriller and this change in tone from playful to sinister feels abrupt. There are also some tangential plot threads (primarily one involving a romantic entanglement between Nina and artist Stephen Wyley, played by Ben Barnes) that suffer from being poorly developed.
Jimmy’s character suffers from inconsistency. Initially, he’s presented as a pretentious, self-serving narcissist. Gradually, however, he starts to go the way of Francis Urquhart from House of Cards (even adopting a few of Ian Richardson’s mannerisms). Toward the end, however, he has become bland and two-dimensional – an unflattering and disappointing destination for a character who was so rich and engaging at the start. Still, the movie is at its best when McKellan is on screen – the energy level dips noticeably when the focus is on the other characters.
To the extent that The Critic provides entertainment, it’s mostly a result of McKellan’s performance and the wonderful set design, which captures 1934 London not as it really was but as we imagine it might have been. (Few adults from that era are alive today to complain about historical inaccuracies.) Although the movie disappoints late in the proceedings by pandering to cliches, few will be so bored as to leave before the curtain comes down.