Steven Soderbergh’s dramedy The Christophers deploys two fine British actors and the twistiest of plots to produce 100 minutes of watchable entertainment that is, ultimately, disposable.
Ian McKellan plays Julian, a famous British painter, the kind whose paintings sell for millions. Julian hasn’t produced great art for decades, and he holes up in his London apartment/studio with mementos of his fame amid the junk. He has a fatal illness that has limited his future to a few months at most. He also has two adult children who hate him for being a terrible father, and he despises them, too.
His kids, played hilariously by Jessica Gunning and James Corden, may be justifiably estranged, but they are incredibly despicable people determined to profit in Julian’s death. They know that Julian has locked away a series of unfinished paintings; if they can get a skilled art forger to finish them without Julian’s knowledge, they can “discover” them upon his demise and reap untold fortunes.
Now, the other great British actor arrives, Micaela Coel, who plays Lori, a talented painter who has abandoned her art career, but who is capable of the forgery. And she has a longtime personal grudge against Julian. The conspirators scheme to get Lori hired as Julian’s assistant giving her access to the unfinished art works.
Lori and Julian, so mismatched in age, gender, race and disposition, begin what soon evolves into a match of wits. Lori’s perceptions of Julian and his kids vacillate, and the plot morphs into one double-cross, then another, all the way to the neatly resolved ending. It’s all very clever.
The Christophers is the work of director Steven Soderbergh, who broke through in 1989 with the stunningly original Sex, Lies & Videotape and won the directing Oscar for Traffic, then was nominated for Erin Brockavich. He’s no longer choosing to make big movies like Traffic or Brockavich anymore, but his newer work is almost entertaining, like the goofy hillbilly heist Logan Lucky and the underrated thriller Kimi. I appreciate that Soderbergh has no pretensions – he is now just seeking to entertain, and that’s OK, because he does it so well.
You won’t be thinking about The Chrstophers afterward, but you’ll probably have fun watching it. The Christophers is streaming on Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube and Fandango.