The Critic (2024) | Film Review

In The Critic, it is 1930s London and Jimmy Erskine revels as the most elite of theater critics, a rascally rapturous portrayal by one of the greatest to ever hold a frame in Ian McKellen. Jimmy, along with his dutiful assistant and secret lover Tom (Alfred Enoch), has enjoyed many years of being treated as a God on a peasant’s budget as theater owners, playwrights, and actors alike all seek to curry his favor in efforts to avoid drawing any semblance of ire in his reviews. In other words, Jimmy Erskine is on top of the London theater scene.

That is until David Brooke (Mark Strong) takes over the paper after his father suddenly passes away. David believes it is time for Jimmy to tone down his poisonous rhetoric and “be kinder”. Jimmy Erskine feels this shift is akin to robbing a poet of his muse, and therefore concocts a blackmail plot with aspiring actress Nina Land (an enigmatic Gemma Arterton) to turn his apparent misfortune around.

It is unfortunate that as the film marches on, the dependency on Ian McKellen’s character fades in-and-out of focus. Subplots involving multiple affairs, a deceitful rendezvous, and living under the blanket of closeted homosexuality become too much to flesh out in any meaningful manner. Mark Strong and Gemma Arterton are both actors capable of captivating our screens in equal measure yet feel awfully underserved as their relevant storylines fail to receive ample time for a proper evolution.

Ian McKellen is an actor who can elevate the artistic standing of a Craigslist ad. McKellen imbues Jimmy Erskine with an auspicious hue, a simmering undercurrent of flair rivaled only by his innate disdain for change. McKellen is the blood pumping throughout the veins of The Critic, maintaining life support even as the film suffers under the weight of overwrought plotting and an overreliance on operatic dialogue. Sharp barbs and witty repartee, McKellen can rattle these bits off with nary an effort, and that is why the film feels like such a waste of this actor’s arsenal of talents. There is so much that could have been done with this character – even the discussion on many critic’s tendencies to eviscerate their subjects would be worth a film on its own – but sadly there is just too many threads woven into this basket of ideas.

The prospects are here. Beautifully lit and lovingly framed, director Anand Tucker obviously respects the setting of her film and captures the time period with grace and warmth. If only the script would have allowed Ian McKellen’s Jimmy Erskine to spring to life as viscerally as his words, The Critic could have been a revelation.