Looking for Eric (2009)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Joel K

  
  Looking for Eric is a gritty and realistic comedy-drama, which doesn't sacrifice laughter in-spite of all the glumness. Eric Bishop is a typical miserable northener on the surface, and we follow him through his juggling act of a life, as he's helped along by Eric Cantona.… More
  Looking for Eric is a gritty and realistic comedy-drama, which doesn't sacrifice laughter in-spite of all the glumness. Eric Bishop is a typical miserable northener on the surface, and we follow him through his juggling act of a life, as he's helped along by Eric Cantona. It's full of interesting and well devoloped characters, and the acting is really quite striking. Even Eric Cantana is good, proving that sports stars can act (well he is playing himself). Throw a happy ending into the mix, and you have a brilliant story of a man overcoming his troubles, with the help of friends.

• Anthony L

  
  Ken Loach is a great director and doesn't make enough films for my liking. You can harp on about your Danny Boyles all you like, Loach is the best of British (along side Mike Leigh of course). Looking for Eric manages to reach that perfect balance of light humour and gripping… More
  Ken Loach is a great director and doesn't make enough films for my liking. You can harp on about your Danny Boyles all you like, Loach is the best of British (along side Mike Leigh of course). Looking for Eric manages to reach that perfect balance of light humour and gripping drama beautifully. Evets and Cantona are brilliant together in the leading roles and it is great to see the always brilliant John Henshaw in a supporting role on the big screen. A slightly different direction from Loach's usual direction but with all the usual quality film-making. Brilliant.

• Carlos M

  
  A delightful, outstanding tragicomedy that is amazingly involving, blending sadness, tenderness and humor in a heart-warming story with a great deal of amazing performances - especially by a hilarious Éric Cantona at his most philosophical.

• Alireza M

  
  An undeniable amusing feel good movie and Ken Loach's most entertaining one.Most of Loach's greatness is due to his screenwriter,who once again did a great job and wrote an another diffrent screenplay,which was flawed but atleast audience's interests were considered in… More
  An undeniable amusing feel good movie and Ken Loach's most entertaining one.Most of Loach's greatness is due to his screenwriter,who once again did a great job and wrote an another diffrent screenplay,which was flawed but atleast audience's interests were considered in it.There were few scenes that i didnt like,such as when Eric Cantona was talking about his football career and best moments of his life while some parts of his games was shown, which was inappropriate and also portraying an asshole like Eric Cantona as a hero who changed the man's life,while we know footballers are pricks.

• Mark W

  
  The master of British working class cinema Ken Loach offers up a more light-hearted little film in the wake of his hard hitting Irish revolutionary film "The Wind that Shakes the Barley". Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a 50 something postman who's life has taken a… More
  The master of British working class cinema Ken Loach offers up a more light-hearted little film in the wake of his hard hitting Irish revolutionary film "The Wind that Shakes the Barley". Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a 50 something postman who's life has taken a serious downturn. He is plagued with regrets of his past, in abandoning his first wife and newborn baby and now struggling to manage his teenage sons from his second marriage. One of his outlets for fun is following his beloved football team Manchester Utd and it's from the past years of this succesful team that he is given some life coaching and guidance from none other than Eric Cantona, the French footballing sensation who is also famous for his philosophical ramblings. A far more uplifting film from Loach than his usual depictions of the british working class. This still has the gritty realism of his previous work but he's concentrated more on the humorous aspect of his and writer Paul Laverty's talents. This is all helped perfectly by an excellent lead performance by Evets as the downtrodden, angst riddled father and despite Cantona being no thespian, he manages to add a surprisng amount of humour to the film. An enjoyable way to spend an hour or so but I think I still prefer my Loach films, less poached and more hard-boiled.

• Gordon A

  
  Very average Loach film enlivened by a winning central performance from Evets and let down by a daft gun crime subplot which seems to have wondered in from a different movie.

• William S

  
  Not the best thing Ken Loach has given us (verging on winsome) but laugh out loud funny and quite moving all the same. And if smoking weed makes Eric Cantona appear sitting on my bed, giving advice in Francais and urging me to dance with him (he'll be the woman apparently!) then… More
  Not the best thing Ken Loach has given us (verging on winsome) but laugh out loud funny and quite moving all the same. And if smoking weed makes Eric Cantona appear sitting on my bed, giving advice in Francais and urging me to dance with him (he'll be the woman apparently!) then I'm off to find a dealer this second. Ooh ahh, Canton-ah! Indeed!

• Walter M

  
  "Looking for Eric" starts with Eric Bishop(Steve Evets), a middle-aged postman, going around in circles. In a roundabout. In the wrong direction. Which leads to the inevitable collision but somehow manages to avoid any loss of life. After spending a few days in the… More
  "Looking for Eric" starts with Eric Bishop(Steve Evets), a middle-aged postman, going around in circles. In a roundabout. In the wrong direction. Which leads to the inevitable collision but somehow manages to avoid any loss of life. After spending a few days in the hospital, Eric returns to his house to find it a disaster area due to his teenaged sons Ryan(Gerard Kearns) and Jess(Stefan Gumbs) having the unsupervised run of the place. At least, his daughter Sam(Lucy-Jo Hudson), now a mother herself, is more considerate, as she works towards a reconciliation between her parents, Eric and his first wife Lily(Stephanie Bishop). To help matters, Eric starts to receive advice from a most unexpected source. When I first heard the premise of "Looking for Eric," I feared writer Paul Laverty and director Ken Loach had finally gone soft. And I'm happy to report that this could not be any further from the truth as they display their customary talent for honestly depicting the struggles of working class characters.(This does not excuse the third act plot twist that comes out of nowhere, however.) One thing that eases the pain, at least temporarily, is sports and they use this to explore the culture of masculinity that forbids the men to talk about their feelings. Eric finds a way around that by confiding in an invocation of Manchester soccer legend Eric Cantona(who plays himself), instead of say David Beckham who has gone Hollywood, even though Cantona is French.(I mention this because some people still have not gotten over the Hundred Years' War.) It helps that Cantona seems like a man of the people who played when tickets to games were still affordable to the common man. In any case, Eric should not forget that he has friends and co-workers that have his back and cover for him when need be.

• Panta O

  
  British cinematography in it's best! If the screenplay had guts like the director and the actors this could be a movie with cult following! Even this way it left me after an hour and 56 minutes thursty for moreeeeeee! Lovely!

• Lesley N

  
  Very British, very Ken Loach, about the love of football, with an optimistic (if optimistic!) ending and some French bits.

• Movee C

  
  Not the best from Ken Loach but there is a humorous tone.

• Jonny C

  
  Looking For Eric is a heart warming British movie about a down in the dumps postman who seeks imaginary guidance from footballing legend Eric Cantona, I loved the story and the wonderful performances. There's also great dialogue between the older cast, and nice archive footage of… More
  Looking For Eric is a heart warming British movie about a down in the dumps postman who seeks imaginary guidance from footballing legend Eric Cantona, I loved the story and the wonderful performances. There's also great dialogue between the older cast, and nice archive footage of Cantona's best moments in an United jersey.

• Adam M

  
  Comedy drama about Eric, a postman whose life in going down the shithouse until he meets/imagines former Manchester United/France footballing legend Eric Cantona is giving him tips and help on how to sort his life out. This is Britains answer to all this bromance stuff thats going… More
  Comedy drama about Eric, a postman whose life in going down the shithouse until he meets/imagines former Manchester United/France footballing legend Eric Cantona is giving him tips and help on how to sort his life out. This is Britains answer to all this bromance stuff thats going around at the moment. Funny, but also very real and gritty at times, this has good performances, an engaging story and is just a great film about trust and loyality. Shove that one in your ass Apatow!

• ernest e

  
  Good laughs. Excelent movie. A better british movie all the way.

Read all 14 featured audience ratings