The Christophers

“To tell you the truth, I'm not sure quite how much actual acting was going on here from Sir Ian McKellen as he slightly updated his effort from "The Critic" (2023) and becomes legendary painter "Julian Sklar". He has long since lost his touch, and is now suffering from a terminal disease so his grasping children "Sallie" (Jessica Gunning) and "Barney" (James Corden) have a cunning plan to ensure that their nest is well and truly feathered after he has gone. This involves embroiling "Lori" (Michaela Coel) in a plan to creatively enhance (no, that's not the same as forging) some of his most famous but still pending artworks that are sitting in an old metal bath tub atop his London home. Ostensibly there as his assistant helping to catalogue his considerable collection, the pair are soon spatting away as he becomes more suspicious of her motives and she of his - but with the venal offspring pushing relentlessly and more desperately, might the pair come up with a solution all of their own? This is at it's best when Sir Ian and the understated Coel indulge in their sparring, and it's the writing of those scenes that impresses and entertains. He can resort to crude vulgarities at times, but he is also capable of intellectual debate with a woman who is not without her own demons, but who is also more than capable of holding her own against a man who is very used to getting his own way. It does poke a little fun at the superciliousness of the art world, but it also shines quite a powerful spotlight on the complex and emotionally-charged motivations for many works of art that symbolise much more than might appear to the uninitiated on the canvas. There's quite a fun twist in the tale at the end, and with some decent chemistry on display and quite a bit of humour from the script, I did quite enjoy this.”