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The Critic review: It's Agatha Christie on steroids (and McKellen's magnificent), writes BRIAN VINER

McKellen plays Jimmy Erskine, formidably influential drama critic for The Daily Chronicle - a promiscuous gay man not averse to fleeting sexual encounters in the park with 'rough trade'.

Every huff and puff, every snort and harrumph, every tic and grimace, feeds his pitch-perfect depiction of this unscrupulous old man, desperate to cling on to his social and professional status no matter who suffers the collateral damage. Anand Tucker directs very adroitly, the period detail is meticulous and a fabulous supporting cast also includes Lesley Manville as Nina's interfering mother and Romola Garai as Brooke's imperious daughter. We begin in Tuscany, where in an upmarket hotel a buttoned-up American family – Ben (Scoot McNairy), Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) – are befriended by extrovert, souped-up Englishman Paddy (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their son Ant (Dan Hough).

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