Rent The Critic (2023)
3.0 of 5 from 95 ratings
1h 38min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Set in 1930's London. When the most feared and vicious theatre critic in town Jimmy Erskine (Ian Mckellen), finds himself suddenly in the cross hairs of the Daily Chronicle's new owner David Brooke (Mark Strong), he strikes a Faustian pact with struggling actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) who is desperate to win his favour.
- Actors:
- Ian McKellen, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Cottle, Ed Madden, Ben Barnes, Mark Strong, Romola Garai, Beau Gadsdon, Claire Skinner, Oliver Shaw, Ron Cook, Jasper Britton, Albie Marber, Gemma Arterton, Éva Magyar, Nikesh Patel, Lesley Manville, Jacob James Beswick, Jay Simpson, Debra Gillett
- Directors:
- Anand Tucker
- Producers:
- Bill Kenwright, Jolyon Symonds, David Gilbery
- Writers:
- Patrick Marber, Anthony Quinn
- Aka:
- Curtain Call / Kill the Light
- Studio:
- Lionsgate Films
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 09/12/2024
- Run Time:
- 101 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.39:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Behind the Scenes
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Reviews (1) of The Critic
Slow, Stagey, Flat and Unfocused Loose Adaptation of a London Theatreland Novel set in 1934 - The Critic review by PV
Hmmm, although this is just 90 minutes, it feels much longer. It seems slow, somehow, just very flat - and the genres seem mixed and confused. Is it a romance? A murder mystery? A biopic? The focus is blurred.
This is from a novel called Curtain Call - I have not read it but the synopsis online is quite different to the very unlikely story we see here. I did not really believe in the characters, not the critic and what he does, or the actress, or the newspaper tycoon, or his daughter and her husband. The 1934 art deco designs are fab though.
I also wonder if, in the novel, the partner is 'of colour' (remember there were just 6000 black people in the UK in 1939, of 44 millon population) and this is set in 1934. The stench of boxticking thus hangs over it all, especially with the random minor inclusion of the British Union of Fascists - an inclusion which pads the play out but which leads nowhere.
I'd recommend watching the wonderful GODS AND MOSTERS, another film where Ian McK plays a theatrical confirmed bachelor called Jimmy...
2 stars. Theatre fans may well love it (I'd recommend watching the film CHAPLIN to them).
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