The Agent (2008)

Critic Reviews

• Nikki Baughan, Little White Lies

  As a piece of small-scale British filmmaking it's an interesting enough diversion.

• David Parkinson, Empire Magazine

  A quite unsexy subject handled quite adeptly, with pretty decent performances.

• Nina Caplan, Time Out

  Beck does his best, and the dialogue crackles pleasantly, but he's a caricature: a lying, cheating smear of ordure who doesn't even like books. But his sin is worse than that - it's fiction's biggest. He's boring.

• Neil Smith, Film4

  Lesley Manning's film never shakes off its theatrical roots but still manages to be sharp, funny and engrossing.

• Toby Young, Times [UK]

  The Agent never really transcends its roots as a two-hander for the stage, but the director Lesley Manning does a good job of keeping things moving and production values are top notch.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  I found something a little verbose and stagey in this story in movie form.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  The advances up for grabs date the script instantly to a jollier time for publishing, but it's more of a bummer that Lesley Manning's direction is of the plonk-the-camera-anywhere variety.

• Rob Daniel, Sky Movies

  A labour of love and principle, right down to the uncommerical ending, its message does lodge in the mind.

• Simon Kinnear, Total Film

  While unmistakably a stage adaptation, Martin Wagner's droll dialogue makes the cut-and-thrust reasonably dynamic, even if Wagner's barbs about the parlous state of modern publishing will surprise no one.

• Rob Buckley, Filmstar Magazine

  Tense, well-acted, and managing to avoid Misery territory, its only real misstep is the ending, which feels more like writer's paranoia - an ever-hovering spectre - than the natural outcome.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  An intriguing two-hander that grows less persuasive as events unfold. There are hints of Pinter and signs of Mamet but nothing quite disguises the theatricality of the piece despite some sturdy acting.

• Robert Hanks, Independent

  Another low-budget home-grown product - a comedy with touches of very mild suspense - about an unsuccessful writer confronting his agent.

Read all 12 critic reviews