The Critic

critic Reviews

, 50% Rotten Tomatometer Score
  • Everyone's a critic, and Ian McKellen is better than most at playing one, but even his character would give this rote melodrama a so-so review.
  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Stephen RomeiThe Australian
    It’s entertaining throughout, especially for McKellen’s acerbic performance, even if it becomes a tad over-theatrical towards the end.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Jake WilsonThe Age (Australia)
    The Critic never quite comes together: there’s something wonky about the structure, as if Marber had given up halfway on the challenge of reshaping his source material, Anthony Quinn’s 2015 novel Curtain Call.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Donald ClarkeIrish Times
    By the close, one is left befuddled. Is this a tragedy? Is this a comedy? Is it a moral fable? Cruelty to Homo criticus is the least of its problems.

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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Mark KermodeKermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)
    This is an entertainingly ripe melodrama with weird aspirations toward seriousness... tonally it's all over the place.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Wendy IdeObserver (UK)
    Despite reported reshoots and a fresh edit after the film’s coolly received premiere last year, its sour spirit and a cluttered, clumsy third act remain a problem.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Helen O'HaraEmpire Magazine
    McKellen has fun as the bitter, biting Erskine, but the plot takes so long to come together that at times he's the only thing holding the audience's interest.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    James CrootStuff.co.nz
    If you’ve been lamenting the lack of British period dramas with an edge, in these modern, seemingly somewhat sanitised cinematic times, then take this critic’s advice and rush along to a theatre near you.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Leigh PaatschHerald Sun (Australia)
    Though a darkish final act possibly overcomplicates a simple comeuppance for a certain character, McKellen’s gilt-edged gift of the gab shines brightly throughout.
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    John McDonaldAustralian Financial Review
    I know we’re talking about London in the 1930s, but this idea about what a critic does, marks the story as a pure pot-boiler.
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Stephen A. RussellOrion's Shoulder (Substack)
    While I suspect few five-star raves await, McKellen’s always worth the ticket
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