The Critic

2023

Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 51% · 94 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 64% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 6051 6.1K

blackmail deception murder critic 1930s stage actress

Director

Anand Tucker Photo
Anand Tucker

Top cast

Ian McKellen Photo
Ian McKellen as Jimmy Erskine
Alfred Enoch Photo
Alfred Enoch as Tom Turner
Gemma Arterton Photo
Gemma Arterton as Nina Land
Mark Strong Photo
Mark Strong as David Brooke
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
932.27 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 4
1.87 GB
1920*802
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 15

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by henry8-3 5 / 10

The Critic

London, 1934 - Arch vicious theatre critic Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) is a homosexual and is forever close to being arrested either with his current live in lover and secretary, Turner or when picking men up in the park. Eventually caught, he is fired from his job by his boss Viscount Brooke (Mark Strong) and so looks for revenge by getting up and coming actress Nina (Gemma Arterton) to seduce the married and famous Brooke in exchange for good reviews, so that Erskine can blackmail him into getting his job back. Complications ensue.Very dark and occasionally wry look at the role of this powerful critic and his desperation to cling on to power and notoriety whatever it takes, which McKellen, sneering playfully throughout, obviously thoroughly enjoys playing. Overall, it is a little too relentlessly dark and the notion of Erskine convincing Nina to seduce Brooke doesn't wholly stacks up. That said it's well put together, has a nice score and McKellen is inevitably rather good.
Reviewed by stevencsmovies 7 / 10

amazing performance, alright movie

It's 1934, you're in London. You go see a play in a theatre. You see an old man writing vigorously in a notebook. This man is a critic, somebody with the power to raise an actress's career to stardom or send it crashing down around them. This is the premise of the newly released British period drama called THE CRITIC. Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellan) is a gay theatre critic for the Daily Chronicle, which is undergoing drastic changes since its leader passed away, giving the reigns to the son, David Brooke (Mark Strong). Worried about the old guard being fired, Jimmy does everything he can to keep his job. Actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) gets caught up in his schemes, forming a strange relationship. Escalation ensues! In an interview, McKellan has described his character perfectly using only one word, curdled. Jimmy has become rotten to the core, brutally mean in his critiques, manipulative and selfish to the people around him. McKellan does such a great job in the role he made me hate Ian! This movie has some pacing issues for me. It's a very slow burn, and then it rushes too fast near the end. They also don't do a good enough job in establishing the relationships between certain characters. Sometimes I didn't know who was who to who. I heard from somewhere that they had done some rewrites and reshoots, which might explain some things, I just didn't get enough payoff from the slow burn. I still highly recommend this movie simply for seeing Ian McKellan in a very interesting role and having a very fun time doing it.
Reviewed by keikoyoshikawa 5 / 10

Critically Banal

Unlikely the movie's titular character, Jimmy Erskine, played deliciously by Ian McKellen, I am not a professional critic/judge/reviewer.I am, however, someone who enjoys a good story. Alas, "The Critic" baffles me. On the one hand, it had the potential of good mystery, but it didn't choose to go that way. It also had the potential to be a good revenge caper. Sadly, it also didn't go that way.Instead, we get in a quick run-time of 1 hour 40 minutes in which we don't really get good characterization, a good plot, or even a good crime story. Instead, we get a hurried and inadequate portrayal of a desperate man.And why is he desperate? That's not really the right question. If you do decide to watch this movie, you'll know what I mean.
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