Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 84% of 102 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10.The website's consensus reads: "Ken Loach's latest is an uplifting, entertaining and amusing socio-drama featuring a match-winning performance from Eric Cantona." [7] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [8]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and described it as "a wacky if erratic and self-conscious buddy movie." Bradshaw also commented, "Looking For Eric isn't a Loach masterpiece, but it's great fun and is set fair to be his first commercial smash since Kes . No one would begrudge him a well-earned box-office hit from such an amiable film." [9]
Jason Solomons of The Observer opined that Looking For Eric "is a strange movie, a film of two halves, one where the bantering comedy of the male workplace mixes with the serious issues of inner-city gun crime. But it beats with a typically Loachian brand of social humanism, the director revelling in the collective might and will of the football crowd." [10]
Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily stated, "Eric runs the gamut from whimsy, social commentary, high drama and violence before moving into a crowd-pleasing, literally rabble-rousing finale" and "Performances are as crisp and seemingly-genuine as in any Loach film – Evets and Henshaw are the main finds, while Cantona does look ill at ease at times and the aphorisms can wear a little thin." [11]
Derek Elley of Variety felt that the film "is a curious hybrid", and wrote, "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." [12]
Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter noted, "Very funny and a bit sentimental, it's naturalistic comedy of the highest order, with Evets and Henshaw standouts among a terrific cast. Cantona too shows great comic timing and is both imposing and self-effacing." [13]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called Looking for Eric "gentle and sweet and often very funny." Scott also opined, "The film's riotous climax deftly turns grim social realism into action-slapstick revenge farce. Not something Mr. Loach has tried before, and something he turns out to do rather well." [14]
Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times stated, "Loach and Laverty have packed so many storylines and social themes into the film that the point is sometimes lost in all the complications. The filmmakers play around so much with the Cantona mystique, it's not a deal breaker if you know nothing about him, but it's a better film if you do. The cast, though, is nearly pitch-perfect." [15]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and noted, "Looking for Eric is inexplicable. It has elements of a Loach social drama, which might have been better used as the entire story. Cantona is nice enough, but so what? If there seem to be any comic possibilities in the story, Loach doesn't find them." [16]
