Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Looking for Eric
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
view
per page
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Bennett
    90
    Very funny and a bit sentimental, it's naturalistic comedy of the highest order, with Evets and Henshaw standouts among a terrific cast.
  2. NPR
    Reviewed by: Jeanette Catsoulis
    85
    In the end, Looking For Eric is about nothing less than trying to do the right thing when life keeps doing you wrong.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Nev Pierce
    80
    Play It Again, Eric... Ken Loach perfectly captures the feeling of football and the need for hope. Touching and hilarious - a blinder.
  4. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Richard Mowe
    80
    Veteran British director Ken Loach fields one of his most accessible and lightly-toned offerings to date with this comedy about a football fanatic trying to sort out his life.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    80
    The archival game footage -- Cantona on the field, the roaring crowds -- infuses the film with that high-spirited sense of hope and heart that only a brilliant play when a game is on the line can deliver. Loach, a brilliant player at his own game, delivers the rest.
  6. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    A daring and unstable mélange of styles--working-class realism, deadpan fantasy, shameless buffoonery. At times it falls flat, or fails to rise. More often than not, though, it's a heartbreaker.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    From director Ken Loach, England's longtime disciple of social realism, comes his most audience-friendly picture yet
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    75
    A mashup of Nick Hornby and Martin Scorsese? Why not?
  9. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    75
    In the engaging Looking for Eric, Loach, the master of British kitchen sink social drama - tries a bit of imaginary whimsy.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    75
    Along the way, Looking for Eric emerges as a portrait of a world and a way of life. You will probably not want to live in Manchester after seeing this film, but you'll like and respect the people.
  11. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    Eric begins this story as a sad-eyed cipher and ends it as a whole man, and maybe that's structure enough, and reason enough, for one film.
  12. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    75
    It's uneven, but its optimistic message-lost causes can find strength through friendship and bonding-is contagious.
  13. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    70
    Mixing light magical realism with a more familiar brand of working-class gloom, Loach's warm, comic touch elevates the story of an aging man cracking up in plain sight.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    70
    Mr. Loach's touch is a bit lighter here. "Sweet Sixteen" is a coming-of-age story shot through the lens of social tragedy, while "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an epic of historical disaster. Looking for Eric is, by comparison, gentle and sweet and often very funny.
  15. Variety
    Reviewed by: Derek Elley
    70
    As in many of Laverty's scripts, problems of overall tone and character development aren't solved by Loach's easygoing direction, though when it works, "Eric" has many incidental pleasures.
  16. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    iI's a film more content to amuse than truly to probe or feel.
  17. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    65
    What's remarkable about Looking for Eric is the number of ways in which it ALMOST works.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    The actors are up to the challenges of the many serious moments, but the sweetest ones are the most memorable. It's nice to see Loach's gentler side.
  19. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    60
    The esteemed director, Ken Loach, isn't really a fantasist--and it shows.
  20. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    58
    What Looking For Eric demonstrates is that drama, not comedy, is how Loach makes sense of things. On the other hand, I often find his dramas unremittingly bleak. I guess what I'm really saying is that I'm not a big fan of Ken Loach.
  21. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    50
    Looking for Eric is easily the most commercially accessible of the Loach films I've seen, one of the lightest and least somber. It's also wildly structureless and uneven.
  22. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    50
    Loach becomes his own pale imitator with Looking For Eric, a wispy little comedy that uses fantasy to gloss over even the darkest and most intractable problems.
  23. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    42
    The British director Ken Loach can be a master of working-class realism, but not in this cranky, rudderless shambles.
prev next
Page:
  • 1

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. joelmpa
    9
    This is a wonderful film. You don't have to be a Ken Loach fan to enjoy it. Loach, who has made a long and varied cache of usually trenchant portraits of British working class life, with sidetrips to the Spanish Civil War, janitor organizing in America, and the pain of the Irish Rebellion circa WWI, departs here with a serio-comedic approach that should expose him to new fans. I watched with someone who never heard of him, and is usually drawn to more popular entertainments, and they loved it. Stick with it through the early slow going.… Full Review »
  2. Paxster
    8
    To keep both sports fans and cinema lovers interested during a sports drama film can't be easy but this is well achieved by director Ken Loach in this poignant and interesting British realism film. Cantona is exactly where he wants to be and thrives off of, a vision,a god of the other Eric's imagination. The scene nearing the end of 100+ Eric's marching towards a house is both strange and yet real at the same time. This film is unlikely to reduce Cantona's large ego, but maybe thats just what the public want. Football on the big screen isn't too bad after all.… Full Review »
  3. Diezmartinez
    7
    Una especie de versión pambolera de Sueños de un Seductor (Ross, 1972). El fracasado cartero Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) se imagina la presencia contantes del centro-delantero del Manchester United Eric Cantona (lui-même, como dicen los créditos finales), quien funge como su consejero/entrenador físico/existencial. Una encantadora fábula de un Loach de muy buen humor.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »