Ian McKellen is a Utterly Catty Delight in 'The Critic' Trailer

It made headlines in June 2024 when Sir Ian McKellen fell off the edge of the stage toward the end of one of his final four-hour performances of The Player King, a retelling of Shakespeare's Henry IV plays as a single show. The actor, who is in the latter half of his 80s, was rushed to the hospital but was deemed in good condition, though he canceled his final performances to focus on recovery for the planned tour to follow. While it would have been a legendary way to end his career, it was also a reminder of how little time fans have left with one of the theater's living legends and why his final films like The Critic are essential not to miss.

McKellen isn't just a living legend of the stage but of LGBTQ+ rights, coming out publicly in 1988, at the height of the AIDS crisis and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's proposed decriminalization of homosexuality. Since then, he's made playing queer characters a significant part of his career, and The Critic is no exception. Based on the novel by Anthony Quinn, Curtain Call, the film is a mystery thriller in which McKellen's character, theater critic Jimmy Erskine, is driven to scheming plots within plots to keep himself one step ahead of those who would destroy him and his career simply for being gay.

McKellen, of course, is firing on all cylinders here, firing off more catty one-liners per minute than Downton Abbey's Dowager Countess after hitting the snuff box.