Looking for Eric
IFC Films | Release Date: May 14, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
Very funny and a bit sentimental, it's naturalistic comedy of the highest order, with Evets and Henshaw standouts among a terrific cast. Read full review
85
NPRJeanette Catsoulis
In the end, Looking For Eric is about nothing less than trying to do the right thing when life keeps doing you wrong. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazineRichard Mowe
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. Read full review
80
EmpireNev Pierce
Play It Again, Eric... Ken Loach perfectly captures the feeling of football and the need for hope. Touching and hilarious — a blinder. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
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. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
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. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
A mashup of Nick Hornby and Martin Scorsese? Why not? Read full review
75
ObserverRex Reed
It's uneven, but its optimistic message-lost causes can find strength through friendship and bonding-is contagious. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
From director Ken Loach, England's longtime disciple of social realism, comes his most audience-friendly picture yet Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
In the engaging Looking for Eric, Loach, the master of British kitchen sink social drama - tries a bit of imaginary whimsy. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
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. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
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. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
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. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyStaff (Not credited)
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. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
iI’s a film more content to amuse than truly to probe or feel. Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
What’s remarkable about Looking for Eric is the number of ways in which it ALMOST works. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
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. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
The esteemed director, Ken Loach, isn’t really a fantasist--and it shows. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
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. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
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. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
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. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The British director Ken Loach can be a master of working-class realism, but not in this cranky, rudderless shambles. Read full review
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