The Critic

In cinemas now

The prospect of watching the great Sir Ian McKellen play a snide theatre critic is sufficient reason to at least be intrigued by Anand Tucker’s The Critic, especially given that the film is set in 1930s England, a time when homosexuality was deemed illegal. Given that McKellen, like his character, has long been an openly gay man, the foundations of a deeply personal and affecting film are there for all to see.

Unfortunately, The Critic is no such thing. While McKellen is typically first-rate, Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Anthony Quinn’s source material Curtain Call is, tonally speaking, far too uneven for the film to ever be truly resonant. This is best exemplified by the lead character’s own bizarre narrative arc, which sees him first elicit sympathy (due to his discrimination at the hands of the British authorities) before then becoming a brazen blackmailer and, most ridiculously of all, unrepentant murderer. 

If that sounds like a lot to cram into a circa 100-minute picture, it doesn’t even account for the stories of The Critic’s supporting cast which, with the exception of Gemma Arterton and Alfred Enoch’s characters, are mostly either hurried or completely forgotten about. Consequently, it’s no surprise to learn that the picture was beset with production issues, which at least accounts for the pervading notion that you are watching something that has been salvaged from the cutting-room floor.