Gazza; Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?; Compulsion

“The film is careful to take in as many sides as possible. We hear from his mother, his sister, his former teammates, his friends and from many of the journalists who feasted on the drama. It is honest, though, much like many other documentaries of this ilk, which revisit and attempt to revise our understanding of the recent past, it does seem as if it is both condemning the tabloid press and using it at the same time. Still, as a story, this is as compelling as it is tragic.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“Two Paul Gascoignes exist in the public eye: the gifted footballer he once was and the sad, shambolic figure he became. Gazza did not follow this trajectory to its end, but gave us plenty. Film-maker Sampson Collins turned the tabloid press into the villains of the piece, and their behaviour was deeply unpleasant.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Despite the excellent use of archive footage, Collins was too obsessed with showing how Gazza was a victim of the battle for sales between The Sun and the Daily Mirror. Somewhere in all of this his subject got lost. With privileged access to Gazza and those closest to him, this felt like a missed opportunity to tell a different story and one that would have been far more edifying than the depressing tale of a big-hearted yet tortured soul and the obsession with celebrity culture that brought him down.”
Joe Clay, The Times

“Assembled with archive soundbites from innumerable family interviews and comments from professionals who knew the young Gazza, this is a thoroughly researched life story. But aside from peripheral details, little was uncovered that wasn’t already well known.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Plotwise, this isn’t one of Christie’s finest. It is convoluted and coincidence-packed. But this adaptation from Hugh Laurie is buoyed along by two delightful performances, from Will Poulter as Bobby, the good-natured vicar’s son, and Lucy Boynton as Frankie, his childhood friend. They have a lively chemistry, with Boynton in flirtatious form and allowed to deploy the comic talents that were kept firmly under wraps in The Ipcress File. Laurie ably balances the tone of the piece, keeping things light in the scenes between Poulter and Boynton but adding notes of menacing strangeness when required.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Agatha Christie adaptations always have great casts. The question, in the absence of a household name like Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, is how effectively the substitute sleuths run the show, and here Evans? falters. On the page, Bobby and Frankie are full of pluck and gumption; on the screen, however, they are sadly listless. For all that Laurie’s script tries to inject some dynamism, the performances remain flat.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“There’s nothing to be learned from the truly abysmal Compulsion, a lurid melodrama about a paramedic with PTSD whose gambling addiction is wrecking her marriage. Leanne Best and Danny Ashok play Jenny and Chris, who converse in cliches and, despite their repeated protestations of undying love, have no more romantic chemistry than two strangers in a queue at the post office.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail