#58: THE CRITIC

 

STARRING Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch, Romola Garai and Lesley Manville. Written by Patrick Marber, based on Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. Directed by Anand Tucker. Running time 101 minutes.

It's London in 1934, how do we know it's London, well it's that ruddy fog which fills every scene of this movie that sort of gives it away. Sadly, London of the middle 30s consists of just three vaguely old buildings, one old outside toilet and a park, hence the need for fog.

Anyway, in the world of the critic of the 1930s, none stride as tall as Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) the theatre critic for The Daily Chronicle, he's spiteful, wilful, well into his 70s and secretly gay, living with his live-in lover and personal secretary, Tom Turner (Alfred Enoch). Erskin's been spewing his bile in print for the past 30 odd years and his voice is beginning to lose his lustre, especially for the paper's new publisher, and owner, Viscount David Brooke (Mark Strong) who has taken over the paper following the death of his father. And whereas his father delighted in Erskine's ruthless, vitriolic, and caustic reviews, most of which is aimed at actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), young Brooke isn't as partial.

Brooke asks Erskine to tone down his biting reviews in an aid to boost readerships and promptly starts sacking the old guard. Knowing his card is marked, Erskine throws caution to the wind and following a drunken gay orgy gets arrested by the police for lewd behaviour. When news of his arrest reaches the ears of Brooke, Erskine is fired and desperate, he embarks on a blackmail plot to save his career. When he discovers that Brooke is infatuated with the target of his hate filled reviews, actress Nina Land (Gemma Artrton), Erskine hatches a plan to blackmail the publisher which ultimately leads to murder, suicide and ruin.

This is Ian McKellen's film - lock, stock and barrel and boy do we know it, from the second he arrives till the moment he leaves he owns this film, and while the likes of Mark Strong, Gemma Arterton, and the criminally underused Lesley Manville, give it their all in the acting department they are but 40 watt bulbs to McKellen's 200,000 Lumens performance. That's not to say he overacts, he doesn't, it's just he's so magnetic he absorbs all attention like a blackhole.

As usual, it's good to see a film with a story not hamstrung by robots, superheroes, CGI effects and bombastic special effects. What a change to see an adult story told by good actors. Sadly though, this is all surface and lacks any sense of deeper intrigue or duplicity, it's all writ large on the screen. The film hints at the risks of Erskine and Enoch's forbidden love, or lust, but it's dealt with all too quickly. Similarly, Erskine's sinister blackmail plot, while offering a clever idea feels all too pat and too quick in its resolution. What's lacking is a deeper dive in the psyche of Erskine, it would have been far more interesting to see the collapse of the man, or witness more of his Machavalian manipulations of those people about him to achieve his goal. 

He's an unpleasant character and yet you feel he needed to be more repellent, more desperate to hold onto his lifestyle, more willing to do anything to hold on to what he had. Instead we just get a quick character study and a plan that unreels too quickly leaving the whole thing to feel undercooked.

And while McKellen is great, the whole film fails to truly engage, it all feels a little too surface, with no real depth. 

7/10