Based on Anthony Quinn’s historical cozy mystery, Curtain Call, the trailer of The Critic bodes well, primarily because it focuses on the hypnotic, reptilian presence of Ian McKellan as the mid-30s London theater critic at the heart of it all. And the first half of the film solidly establishes the swirling character set around the critic, plus the plot hinge (which seems, on checking out the underlying novel, to be very different to the original), namely an arrangement the critic comes to with an aspiring starlet to help him retain his coveted newspaper standing. Yet even then the movie creaks. Gemma Arterton seems miscast as the femme fatale, as does Mark Strong as a repressed newspaper mogul, the pacing seems uneven, the cinematography has a muddy color, and the soundtrack is sleepy. But the second half of The Critic descends into a plotline and scripting mess, McKellan’s acting descends into unemotional hamming, and the conclusion falls with a clunk. A missed opportunity, this one, badly missed.
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