Critical Condition
Esteemed New York drama critic Clive Barnes once said about his profession: “The two most important elements in a critic, as I see it, are passion and compassion.”
As a theater critic in the new film “The Critic,” Sir Ian McKellen is one for two.
Smoking unfiltered cigarettes and sporting a broad-brimmed hat, his Jimmy Erskine is the long-suffering seat-warmer of the title in 1930s London.
And suffer he does, reviewing plays of uneven quality for Britain’s foremost “family newspaper,” while in his off time seeking out the company of young like-minded men in public parks, a dangerous practice at the time and one that could land you in jail.
Moreover, his nighttime activities haven’t gone unnoticed by his publisher, Viscount Brooke, played stoically by Mark Strong. Brooke is unnerved by his number one critic’s lifestyle, but allows this uneasy alliance to continue due to Erskine’s long association with the paper and the fact he was first hired by Brooke’s father.
It’s clear from the outset that Jimmy is a cantankerous human being, although with a soft spot for the young man he describes as his “secretary,” who performs all manner of chores, although “not in the bedroom,” according to Jimmy.
The story unfolds with Jimmy attending a production starring a young and insecure actress, Nina Land, played by Gemma Arterton. In his review, he excoriates Land as unworthy of the stage and her performance a waste of his time.
Soon we learn she is having an affair with the married son-in-law of Viscount Brooke. Stephen Wylie is besotted, as they once said of such feelings way back when. And no wonder. Wylie’s wife is an icy shrew.
Brooke also neglects his own wife and spends a great deal of his time attending shows in London’s West End.
And it turns out he, too, is smitten with Land.
One night, in a drunken throwdown, Jimmy and his consort are arrested and charged with indecency. The publisher’s response is to fire Jimmy and provide him with a handsome stipend.
And this is where the story, and Jimmy’s soul, take a dark turn.
He’s like a mad puppeteer, playing his personal and professional peers against each other. So, it’s no surprise that Jimmy hatches a plan to get his job back and in a way that ends in tears, or worse, for those closest to him.
Say what you will about McKellan, who at 85, can still hold his own on the big screen. He might not be a hero in the conventional sense, but he does have a poisonous kind of panache.