The Christophers

Ian McKellan and Michaela Coel make a brilliant pairing in Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh’s incisively witty and acerbic comedy about art, commerce, and avarice. Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters) was once a star of London’s 1960’s and 70’s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two estranged children (James Corden, Into the Woods, and Jessica Gunning, Pride), desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori, an art restorer and former forger (Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You), to pose as a prospective assistant in order to access eight unfinished canvases, part of a series entitled “The Christophers,” that Julian has buried deep in storage. Her plan is to complete them, then return them to storage, where they are to be “discovered” upon Julian’s death, but the ruse quickly goes awry in a series of titillating twists and shifting allegiances. (Dir. by Steven Soderbergh, 2025, UK/USA, 100 mins., Rated R)