The Critic

It’s impossible to watch this period misfire and not wonder what the curmudgeonly, conniving newspaper theatre critic at its heart would say about it. Played by a scowling Ian McKellen as an unholy cross between Kenneth Tynan and Magneto, he’d no doubt give it fairly short shrift. Creakier than a derelict stage and often just as wooden, Leap Year director Anand Tucker’s snapshot of the viperous side of Edwardian society nods to a dozen things – snobbery, ambition, English fascism, homophobia and the power of the media among them – and gets under the skin of none of them.

On the upside, it does have a wonderfully vinegary McKellen giving full value to screenwriter Patrick Marber’s juicy putdowns and catty asides as Jimmy Erskine, a self-important newspaper critic at a time when critics had something to be self-important about. Marber’s adaptation of Anthony Quinn’s 2015 novel Curtain Call serves Mark Strong, Lesley Manville and Ben Barnes less well in thin roles as figures in Erskine’s orbit, while Gemma Arterton does what she can with the guileless but ambitious actress unwittingly drawn into his foul schemes. No standing O for this one. 

In UK cinemas Sep 13.