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Soon after I began accumulating quotes about Ewan McGregor, people started sending extracts from reviews by professional film, television and theatre critics. I felt it was important to keep these seperate from the other quotes hence the reviews page.
The reviews are in reverse chronological order (newest films first). You can jump down to the film, program or play of your choice using the index to your left.
Please note, these extracts deal with Ewan and his performances. If you are looking for a complete review of a particular film, I suggest a visit to Rotten Tomatoes or The Internet Movie Database.
- General commentary on his acting or film
choices
- Strangely enough, maybe it's that sensual freedom that puts McGregor
squarely in league with old-time Hollywood leading men. Movies are so
different now. Comparatively, they're more open about sex and love and
longing -- but they're not necessarily more honest. It's actors like
McGregor who can keep them honest, who can be purely sexual in the way
they speak and move, even as they clearly have no interest in the
game-playing of machismo. Like his forebears, McGregor understands that
sometimes the most deeply sensual gestures are the seemingly small ones,
like the shy flicker of an eye or the tenderness in a smile. McGregor
isn't a leading man in the old-fashioned sense -- he's far too visceral
for that -- but even his rawest performances show a kind of delicacy. If
the best acting is really just another kind of singing, a way of
connecting with an audience in a way that's verbal on the surface but
infinitely more complicated below it, then McGregor is both a rock star
and a crooner, often at the same time -- and he knows how senseless it
would be to even try to choose between the two. Stephanie Zacharek,
salon.com, May 12 1999
- So what do we make of McGregor's comparably frenetic work rate? At
the very least, he's running on a different masculine engine from (Sean)
Connery -- one that's comfortable with fluidity, passivity, team-play
and ambiguity. Pundits on the look-out for their next British megastar
would call them his 'unflattering' movies: but I think they're
indicators of McGregor's restless, non-traditional acting sensibility.
It's a real spectrum of post-modern manhood. Submission to band
discipline in Brassed Off; wrestling with the disability of others in
Little Voice; joyfully out-of-control in A Life Less Ordinary;
gender-transcending in the rock movie Velvet Goldmine; a helpless object
of lust in The Pillow Book; a flawed, shallow wideboy in Rogue Trader; a
desperate and wild-eyed Joyce in Nora. None of these is the choice of an
actor who has his eye on an Oscar seat or an extended Hollywood tenure
as a 'bankable' actor. Pat Kane, Sunday Herald, August
2001
- But what occurs to me is that there’s no discernible pattern to what
McGregor does. I don’t suggest for a moment that he should always play
the same part, as the movie stars of the so-called Golden Age invariably
did. Modern stars such as Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt often break their own
mould as, to an even greater extent, does Tom Hanks to whom Boyle has
compared McGregor. Boyle reckons they share a quality of ordinariness -
"like the guy next door" - and that may be so. But Hanks, though varying
his roles, chooses big stories: McGregor often goes for small ones and
though this may be commendable, in the sense that his name in the cast
list might be the deciding factor that actually enables a film to be
made, it’s not necessarily a good idea as a long-term game plan. I know
Ewan McGregor slightly and like him a lot. I also think he has loads of
talent. But I would suggest that the time has come when he should grab
hold of that talent, his work ethic and his "almost arrogant ambition"
and use them to their optimum effect. Hanks is not a bad role model: the
British film industry has need of someone like him. Barry Norman,
Radio Times
- (when asked about the current crop of British actors)
I've got a lot of time for Ewan. If he chooses, he could be a great big movie star but I think he probably won't choose to do that because he likes to do little films and I think he gets very bored with these great big blockbusters, he's been in a couple of them now. I think he's a very good actor and he is a star there is no doubt about it, but I think if he went the whole Hollywood route he'd be an enormous star. Barry Norman, BBC Radio2, Steve Wright in the Afternoon, August 2001
- Young Adam (2003) - film
- Joe is part existential outsider, part Jack-the-lad who regards sex as a way of defying the society he so dislikes. As portrayed by McGregor, in a donkey jacket, with hair swept back, he looks a little like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. This is certainly one of McGregor's strongest performances. He plays Joe as a brooding, curiously detached figure, who seems to be at a remove from his own life. Whether trying to seduce Ella, witnessing the murder trial that he himself has triggered, or cheating on Ella with her sister, he rarely displays more than a flicker of emotion (…) Like the author who created him, Joe isn't easy to warm to. The irony is that McGregor somehow renders the character sympathetic in spite of himself. Just as in Trainspotting, you end up rooting for Joe... whatever he does with the custard. Geoffrey Macnab, Independent, May 16
- Strongly cast, with an especially fine perf by Ewan McGregor as an amoral drifter caught up in a couple's passionless marriage (…) McGregor is tops as Joe, underplaying the character's opportunism without ladling on the charm. Derek Elley, Variety, May 16 2003
- It will startle devotees of Ewan McGregor's recent matinee-idol persona. McGregor, in arguably his most vivid and complex performance since Trainspotting, will certainly help Young Adam's box-office profile (…) The acting is uniformly powerful and subtle (..) While McGregor's well-coiffed dapper appearance may not entirely fit the 1950s scene, his curiously blank charisma works to deceptive effect, keeping us guessing about Joe's personality, which veers unpredictably between charm and outright, uningratiating abjection. Jonathan Romney, Screen International, May 18 2003 (thank you Sessan)
- Ewan McGregor gives one of his most complex and mature performances to date as Joe, a young man living and working on a barge with Les (Peter Mullan) and his wife Ella (Tilda Swinton). Stephen Applebaum, The Scotsman, May 19 2003 (thank you Specs)
- (Mackenzie, the director) does extremely well by the efforts of his highly capable cast -- in particular, the truly dynamic duo of Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton. It's hard to think of two less-inhibited actors working today, and although their scorchingly vigorous sex scenes will no doubt help sell the picture, the stripped-bare purity of their performances leaves a lasting impression long after the titillation factor wears off (…) Returning to his Scottish indie roots after firmly establishing himself in such big-budget fare as "Moulin Rouge" and the past two "Star Wars" pictures, McGregor makes for a perfect noir antihero, while Swinton, ever the chameleon, once again disappears effortlessly into a character who proves to be anything but predictable. Together they set off considerable sparks. Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter, May 19 2003
- Ewan MacGregor gives his best performance in ages. Sukhdev Sandhu, Telegraph, May 19 2003
- Sex and death are not strangers, and the erotic tension between the new barge hand and the wife is magnetic. McGregor’s enigmatic journey is his best performance in years, even if it is mostly led by the stirrings below his belt. James Christopher, The Times, London, May 22 2003
- While there is a dourness about Young Adam, McGregor and Swinton give performances that rate among the best of their careers; one has to go all the way back to Trainspotting to find McGregor in such blistering form. David Gritten, Telegraph, July 26 2003 (thank you Ewan rocks webmistress)
- Young Adam is much less a murder mystery, or sordid love story, than it is an observation of the kind of outsider made famous by the likes of Camus, in France, or the Beat writers such as Kerouac and Burroughs in America. McGregor, in one of his best performances for a long time, plays the detachment to the hilt: Joe seems barely alive, his only activities (when not working) being reading and fucking. Sex for him seems to be more of a challenge than a pleasure. Channel 4 Film, May 2003 (thank you Roxanne)
- The key to this conundrum is how little McGregor actually gives away. He has moments — lighting a cigarette after sex — that put you in mind of Dirk Bogarde’s furtive powers in The Servant. Others where he seems entirely naive and heroic. He manages to sleep with every repressed female in sight, yet those green eyes remain spookily empty, and innocent. His enigmatic journey through Young Adam is the most compelling screen performance he has delivered. James Christopher, The Times, August 14 2003 (thank you Josie and Gail)
- McGregor reminds us that he is capable of much more than flashing that wolfish grin. Recognising the best role he's had
in years, he stretches his vocal skills with precision, craft and restraint. It's a career-changing performance in what is likely to stand as one of the best British films of the year. Leslie Felperin, August 14 2003, Independent (thank you Gail)
- The film displays a sexual candour rare in British cinema. It is unabashedly physical and, in the lead role, Ewan McGregor responds with his finest performance to date. There's always been something boyish about the actor - a cheeky exuberance that has accounted for a large part of his charm - but here he's shed that skin to become a man. There's a hardness to his features, a bleak intensity to his stare, that speaks of bitter experience and a capacity for sudden, violent action. www.edfilmfest.org.uk - website for The Edinburgh International Film Festival, 2003 (thank you Akemi)
- The celebrity clout of Ewan McGregor is the picture’s best chance to break into the mainstream movie-going consciousness. And fans drawn by his name alone will be rewarded with the actor’s most complex and mature performance to date (...) McGregor is outstanding and his performance is complemented by equally impressive turns by Swinton and Mullan. Sunday Herald, September 21 2003 (thank you Gail)
- Down With Love (2003) - film
- Zellweger and McGregor are constantly mugging in a tiresomely self-aware way. David Rooney, Variety, May 6 2003
- In ''Down With Love,'' McGregor, speaking in his natural Scottish accent, plays Catcher as a real-world Austin Powers with straighter teeth and better clothes. It's hilarious to see a movie's male sex symbol define cool by the way he rolls on his spandex stay-up socks, and McGregor, who has so much heart that he puts feeling into his jokes, is wonderfully charming as this toxic bachelor with no idea that his ways are on the way out. Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, May 7 2003 (thank you Cara)
- Hollywood seems to have found its new Cary Grant in McGregor, who scored as an idealized heartthrob in "Moulin Rouge" and backs that with a pitch-perfect rendition of a vapid playboy rating a comeuppance. Jack Matthews, New York Daily News, May 8 2003
- Unlike Day and Hudson, who inhabited their characters with an effortless charm, Zellweger and McGregor appear to be straining for effect, conveying little of the natural sexiness of their predecessors. Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter, May 8 2003
- The Hudson-Day roles are taken up by Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger, unflappable veterans of the recent campaign to revive the movie musical. They demonstrate together, as they did (separately) in "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago," a thoroughly charming immunity to embarrassment. They also remind you that the real Rock Hudson and Doris Day flourished in the days before personal trainers, Diet Coke and the Atkins Diet turned Hollywood into the land of ropy biceps and flat tummies. Mr. McGregor's wiry, wolfish energy is more like the young Sinatra than the bulky, slow-moving Hudson, but never mind. His high-flying playboy, a magazine writer named Catcher Block, is a lithe Lothario, a woman's man, a man's man, a man about town. A. O. Scott, New York Times, May 9 2003 (thank you Mary)
- Zellweger, in particularly, takes the broad approach, walking with a flamboyant sashay and making big gestures. McGregor offers a more restrained - and effective - performance that more convincingly generates its humor and nostalgia. Jack Garner, Gannett News Service, May 14 2003 (thank you firingsquard)
- Zellweger has no zing with McGregor, who seems uncomfortable in a stud role that, say, Hugh Jackman could have nailed. Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, May 14 2003
- McGregor, however suave and handsome, doesn't have the manly heft of Hudson, though he does have an appropriately urbane quality. He's more Dean Jones (The Love Bug) than Hudson. Claudia Puig, USA Today, May 15 2003 (thank you ewanfan101)
- Though they play types in the mold of Day and Hudson, Zellweger and McGregor have the wirehaired-terrier friskiness of Natalie Wood and James Coburn. It's pure pleasure to watch Zellweger and McGregor bound across a set with the swinger confidence of Frank Sinatra taking the stage of the Sands Hotel. Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16 2003
- Ewan McGregor, as the magazine writer and international playboy Catcher Block, embodies the ladies'-man myth, the sleek, lovable cad who is irresistible to all women, especially, it seems, airline stewardesses. He has Laurence Harvey's hair and walk coupled with a James Bond smirk. Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, May 16 2003
- Gliding through it all with masculine glee is McGregor. As Catcher Block, the actor doesn’t waltz through his role so much as slide greasily. He’s a cad of the highest degree, a “woman’s man, man’s man and man about town” who’s so adorably charismatic that you find yourself rooting for his deception to work. In his razor-sharp houndstooth-check jackets and hipster sunglasses, McGregor doesn’t recall beefcakey Hudson so much as the kinetic young Tony Curtis, who could smile into the camera and cause women to melt into gooey heaps. The Portland Tribune, May 16 2003 (thank you ParisRouge)
- "Down With Love" is the most exhilarating piece of old-meets-new moviemaking since "Moulin Rouge," and it's no coincidence that Ewan McGregor is at the center of both (…) the whole thing would be an empty, transparent exercise in style without an actor of McGregor's total commitment. He throws himself into the role of a suave ladies' man with a fearless abandon that Hudson never had. He's both sly and exuberant, calculating and uninhibited. He has no poses, no defenses, no worries that he'll look silly or full of himself. Place McGregor's blithe, womanizing journalist of "Down With Love" alongside his love-addled poet of "Moulin Rouge," and it's clear he's a rare and extraordinary performer, one who combines the old-school showmanship of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly with the emotional nakedness of contemporary Method actors. Ben Nuckols, Associated Press, May 16 2003 (thank you Gail)
- McGregor sharks around agreeably, flashing his teeth at a game Hyde Pierce, but there's something uncertain about the performance, as if he can't find his footing. Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times, May 16 2003 (thank you xcbug)
- Zellweger continues the against-the-odds trajectory of her career with some deft comic work. Even so, the film is stolen brazenly by McGregor, sexier, funnier and more dashing than ever as a man who, as a song lyric over the closing credits tells us, "make(s) Dean Martin look like a Quaker." Assured, razor-cut and sneaky, he convinces as a rake, a naif and, finally, a romantic. It's a stardom-cementing performance. Shawn Levy, The Oregonian, May 16 2003 (thank you Brittyn)
- To get anywhere near (Rock) Hudson's ebullience, confidence and sexual magnetism, poor li'l Ewan must work overtime. You never saw a face so busy: He's continually arching an eyebrow, pursing his lips, sucking in his cheeks, dilating his eyes up for warmth or down for cunning, concentrating on his timing. He's doing every Brit-actor thing he can think of, huffing and puffing. You just want him to cut the twinkle factor down to nil and relax a little. Stephen Hunter, Washington Post, May 16 2003
- As Catcher, McGregor consolidates his ''Moulin Rouge'' gains and makes you forget about that stiff named Obi- Wan Kenobi; his is a loose-limbed, expertly controlled performance that's a delight to watch. Ty Burr, The Boston Globe, May 16 2003
- McGregor is divine as Catcher Block and Zellweger plays her part to pouty perfection. Susan Walker, The Toronto Star, May 16 2003
- Mr. McGregor has played so many heroin addicts, poster boys for nudity camps and general scuzzballs that it comes as a shock to see him freshly shaved, with short hair plastered down with slickum, dressed for a Seagram’s ad. Obviously he wants a new image, but he was pretty awful in Moulin Rouge, and as a hunky babe magnet in Down with Love, the miscasting overwhelms. Scrawny and pasty-faced, he’s no Rock, or even Tab. The effect of too many parties is self-evident. He may not be ready to exchange dance steps for 12 steps, but a copy of the Big Book and a six-pack of Diet Coke can’t be far behind. Rex Reed, The New York Observer, May 19 2003 (thank you ParisRouge)
- McGregor, with his ropy slimness and Scots accent, looks to be attempting to channel early Sean Connery (including the line "Something [big] just came up," from an early James Bond film). Odd that he could be so convincing as the innocent in "Moulin Rouge," yet here, with the same huge fake moon hanging over similar penthouse apartments, and the same love-lust he needs to radiate, he can't get inside the character. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine, May 19 2003
- Zellweger plays it gamely, and so does McGregor, who has perfected a superb skirt chaser’s walk—shoulders swivelling, a mixture of lunge and lounge. But both of them are set adrift by the movie’s discomforting demands, and only in the closing credits do they get to do what people do most fruitfully instead of sex, which is to make a song and dance about it. Who needs love? Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, May 26 2003
- McGregor is hilarious from the moment he swaggers onscreen, capturing that caddish aura so many early-'60s swingers assumed in their effort to emulate Rat Pack cool. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 2003 (thank you Paris Rouge)
- Book at Bedtime - Chekhov short stories (2002) - radio
- Then there was the much trailed reading of five Chekhov stories as the Book at Bedtime, by Ewan McGregor. Radio publicity departments always go bananas whenever a film star appears and almost always the results don't justify the fuss. McGregor, quite apart from turning poor Chekhov into a a Scot, acted out the stories as if they were character monologues. Of the five, it was His Wife - a dying doctor's contemplation of his seven-year marriage to a vulgar, grasping and deceitful woman - that worked best. But there was still much to enjoy: Chekhov, like Shakespeare, is one of those few writers whose genius is never entirely obscured by any staging. David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph, November 3 2002
- Solid Geometry (2002) - tv short
- The director had the luck that his nephew, Ewan McGregor, is a proper film star and, if the casting is a family favour, then who cares because the actor brings his usual charismatic intelligence to the part of Phil, who withdraws from both his job and his marriage when he inherits both his grandfather's diaries and the unusual medical specimen which he once bought at auction. Mark Lawson, The Guardian, November 25 2002 (thanks Gail & Josie)
- Even the best television dramas rarely surprises or challenges or takes us into unfamiliar mental landscapes. However silly, Solid Geometry did all that and so it was extremely refreshing. The fact that it was beautifully acted by McGregor and (Ruth) Millar and was designed and directed with stylish minimalism helped, too. Dare to be different, please, commissioners, at least occasionally. You will not always have to entice the viewers with the prospect of McGregor’s bare bum. Paul Hoggart, The Times, November 29 2002
- Solid Geometry was sexually explicit, narratively inexact, and only McGregor, a home-grown Tom Hanks, could have made likeable an obsessive character who may be a murderer. The Herald, November 29 2002 (thank you Gail)
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
(2002)
- McGregor steals the show. He is the definitive Jedi: earnest, witty
and deadly by turns. David Edwards, The Mirror, May 8
2002
- Christensen keeps Anakin in a funk; Portman is preoccupied with
ensuring that Padmé's hairdos don't tumble. Only McGregor manages to
smuggle in a little zip between Jedi business. Lisa Schwarzbaum,
Entertainment Weekly, May 8 2002
- But another happy surprise is that McGregor, who seemed blandly
ineffectual in "Menace," begins coming into his own here. Bearded, more
confident now and gingerly affecting some odd enunciation, the actor
indicates he may have strategized to start slowly in the role and
increasingly channel Alec Guinness across the arc of the trilogy to the
point where the two actors merge in the public's mind. Todd McCarthy,
Variety, May 8 2002
- The film lacks a Han Solo-type character but a fully-bearded Ewan
McGregor is much better as Obi-Wan Kenobi this time round. He has been
given more room to deliver his cheeky one-liners. Derek Brown, The
Sun (UK) May 8 2002
- What happens to an actor with the exuberance and the old-fashioned
gaiety of Ewan McGregor that, as soon as he's sucked into the black hole
of Lucasfilm Ltd, he becomes numb and funereal? David Thomson, The
Independent, May 8 2002
- Other than McGregor, who continues to cut a dashing figure as the
sagacious Jedi, the movie is plagued by bad acting. Kirk Honeycutt,
Hollywood Reporter, May 9 2002
- Luckily there's McGregor. He tosses off the laughable,
we-need-to-dodge-these-asteroids dialogue with the snap of a surgeon
ridding himself of soiled gloves. People Magazine May 9
2002
- As for the flesh and blood characters, Ewan McGregor seems to be
turning into Alec Guiness' Obi-Wan Kenobi before our eyes. Russell
Baillie, The New Zealand Herald, May 10 2002
- Ewan McGregor who is still playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the same boring
stuffy backdated-Alec Guinness way. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, May
10 2002
- As Obi-Wan, McGregor truly comes into his own this time, practically
channeling Alec Guinness in his demeanor and the cadence of his speech.
Christy Lemire, Associated Press, May 11 2002
- As for dear old Ewan, not only does he do a bad impression of Alec
Guinness, there are unintentionally comic moments when he sounds like
Noël Coward. For God’s sake, man, get a grip on your accent, you’re a
professional. Cosmo Landesman, The Sunday Times, May 12
2002
- Obi Wan is Anakin's co-hero this episode and the role gives McGregor
a lot more to do than in Phantom Menace where he seemed to spend an
awful lot of his time standing behind Liam Neeson's left shoulder.
Unfortunately, he's saddled with a lot of sub- James Bond
wisecracks-that are intended to show how cool he is under pressure, but
really serve only to show what a terribly lame writer of dialogue Lucas
is. Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail, May 12 2002
- Ewan McGregor still soldiers on as the Jedi knight to whom Anakin is apprenticed, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He has a bit more to do than in the first movie, where he seemed to spend most of his time standing slightly behind Liam Neeson's left ear, as though inspecting it for psoriasis. He's saddled with a lot of wisecracks that are intended to show how cool he is under pressure. He delivers these with a passable imitation of Sir Alec Guinness's accent, but they just make him sound like Roger Moore in the darker period of the James Bond franchise. This most boyishly mischievous of actors seems ground down by the cares of looking after an apprentice. It's a terrible waste. Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail online (thank you Dee)
- It also sees Ewan McGregor claim the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi as his
own. He is fantastic, by turns funny, groughy, intense, and absolutely
astonishing in the action sequences. He is, and I never though I'd write
this sentence, even better than the late Sir Alec Guinness. He is
Obi-Wan. The News of the World, May 12 2002 (Thanks
Sessan)
- Had Lucas allowed McGregor's Obi-Wan -- who is sounding distinctly
like a younger version of "Star Wars'" patron saint, Alec Guinness -- to
dominate more of the movie, the movie might have had legs. Although
everyone else in the film, including the refreshingly virile Samuel L.
Jackson, speaks as if he/she is at Oberammergau, McGregor alone can pull
it off. He alone has the gravity of a young Guinness (a gravity the real
young Guinness didn't actually have) and the capacity for something that
might actually be called heroic. John Anderson, Newsday, May 12 2002
(Thanks Darth Mystique)
- For solid thesping, hire the Brits. McGregor tamps down his innate
exuberance to play stern baby-sitter to Anakin but lends his scenes a
thoughtful weight. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine, May 12 2002
(Thanks Darth Mystique)
- As for McGregor, he makes a nice transition from callow warrior in
"Menace" to a more preternatural cool - with canny foreshadowing of Alec
Guinness' older Obi-Wan. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, May 14
2002
- In fact, the movie is kind of a laboratory on American vs. British
technique. Score: Brits 10, Yanks 0. That's because to the Brits, who
work from the outside in, acting is physical mastery of face and voice
and body, strategically employed at certain moments for impact. An actor
imposes himself on the character, and invents charm and wit and sparkle
where none exists. So even the guy playing Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is
creepy-elegant, and McGregor, athletic and earnest, can even bring a
little life to a line like, "I am concerned for my Padawan. He is not
ready to be given this assignment on his own yet." The Americans, on the
other hand, are trained to get into the character's mind and imagine as
he would imagine, to work from the inside out. But there is no inside
here: These characters are nothing but pop-cult props, and that leaves
the performers helpless and inert. Stephen Hunter, Washington Post,
May 15 2002
- Other than Binks, the only other jarring moments (no pun intended)
are provided by McGregor. In his defense, McGregor, who is a magnificent
actor, has the difficult task of trying to dovetail into someone else's
performance. Other than Yoda (who is a puppet), Darth Vader (who wears a
black helmet) and droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, the only character from
Episodes I, II and the upcoming III who carries over into the original
series is Obi-Wan, originally played by the late Alec Guinness. So
McGregor is the only one who really needs to match another actor. He's
dealt with this by developing a high-class British accent, using stiff
body movements and adding gray to his hair. It all comes off as if he's
suddenly trying to channel Guinness, and it just doesn't work. Paul
Clinton, CNN, May 15 2002
- Ewan McGregor, as Obi-Wan Kenobi, channels Alec Guiness much more
convincingly this time (he's the only actor in the cast who seems to be
having any fun). Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald, May 16
2002
- Obi-Wan, on his own, pursues bounty hunter Jango Fett - and McGregor
relishes his solo screen-time, liberated from the clunky banter Lucas
sticks in when he feels his characters should be talking to each other.
Tim Robey, The Telegraph, May 16 2002
- Ewan McGregor, again doing a fine Alec Guinness impersonation but
otherwise seeming lost and alone in the galaxy as the one actor
attempting to give a real performance in this mess. Stephanie
Zacharek, salon.com, May 16 2002
- When negotiation is not possible, action is required, and McGregor
is up to the task with his revitalized portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobe.
McGregor knows that a swashbuckler needs as bold and fluent an attack as
the headliner in a musical comedy; he manages to make Obi-Wan's wariness
and tested patience dynamic, stirring, even funny. It would be touching
enough if McGregor were just a believable predecessor to the Alec
Guinness Obi-Wan of Star Wars. But he also evokes what Guinness might
have done if he'd performed the role in the years when he played
extroverted showstoppers in films like Tunes of Glory. McGregor matches
up memorably with Lee's towering Count Dooku. Michael Sragow,
Baltimore Sun, May 16 2002
- Meanwhile, as Anakin's mentor, Obi Wan, Ewan McGregor has grown a
beard and is morphing nicely into Alec Guinness. Brian D. Johnson,
Maclean’s Magazine, May 20 2002
- The only actors who rise above the stiff B-movie style are McGregor,
who adds wit and Alec Guinness diction, and Christopher Lee, who cuts a
formidably villainous figure as the leader of the separatist movement
threatening the Republic. David Ansen, Newsweek, May 20 2002
- Black Hawk Down (2001)
- A cast of non-American actors like Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and
Orlando Bloom try out their Yankee soldier accents, with vowels so oddly
enunciated that you expect them to be singled out as foreign spies.
Elvis Mitchell, New York Times, December 28 2001
- Ewan McGregor, as a company clerk elevated to assistant
machine-gunner at the last moment, all but vaporizes. You forget
McGregor - no less than Obi Wan Kenobi! - is even in the movie until the
end, and then you realize he's actually been in most of the scenes.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post, January 18 2002
- The most disappointing performance comes from Ewan McGregor, who
never completely loses his Scottish accent and oversells his part as the
wide-eyed company go-fer thrown unexpectedly into battle. Stephen F.
Hayes, The Weekly Standard, January 18 2002
- McGregor struggles with an unlikely accent as the reluctant desk
clerk. Mark Dinning, Empire Magazine, February 2002
- Moulin Rouge (2001)
- Ewan McGregor, as the poor writer who falls for the courtesan, is a
nouveau Gene Kelly--a hunky Joe with a radiant smile, haunting the Left
Bank like An American in Paris, twirling an umbrella a la Singin' in the
Rain. There's something else deja vu about this pair: they have the
innocence and maturity of the great old stars. Richard Corliss, Time
Magazine, May 6 2001
- McGregor is the real surprise, however, as he energetically bares
more honest emotion than he ever has onscreen and reveals an outstanding
voice. Variety, May 9 2001
- McGregor reveals a supple and pleasing voice but hasn't much to work
with as an actor. The Hollywood Reporter, May 10 2001
- McGregor and Kidman turn out to be the sweetest musical pairing
since Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, with McGregor's character, Christian,
trying to woo Satine with a medley of songs by Elton John, the Beatles,
the Police, and Norman Cook. Andrew O’Hagan, The Telegraph, May 10
2001
- Kidman is chilly and McGregor's somewhat better, but this isn't a
love story where anyone - by the way, what's the intended demographic? -
will care about the stakes. USA Today, May 17 2001
- Mr. McGregor is capable of a conspiratorial warmth, as if he were
letting the audience in on a secret the rest of the cast will never
know. But here he is consigned to staring at Ms. Kidman, which
emasculates him. He is even stripped of his soft Scottish brogue; he's a
plush-toy puppy without a tail. Elvis Mitchell, New York Times, May
18 2001
- As demonstrated in Velvet Goldmine, McGregor has a strong vibrato,
although here he has difficulty losing his smirk - his naďve persona is
regularly undercut by a wolfish grin. Village Voice, May 18
2001
- Although it showcases excellent work from co-stars Nicole Kidman and
Ewan McGregor as singing star-crossed lovers in turn-of-the-century
Paris, "Moulin Rouge" is a film that can't escape the defects of its
virtues. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, May 18 2001
- McGregor underplays his character's suffering -- he understands the
distinction between melodrama and camp, in that the former can easily
encompass nobility while the latter can only caricature it. His charm
enfolds everything from the way he stammers when he's trying to open
Satine to his love, to the suffering he holds like a noble vessel,
chiefly in his eyes and in the roll of his shoulders, when tragedy sinks
down upon him. McGregor's profound inner dignity always keeps him
grounded; it also seems to be the underpinning to his appealing
goofiness and humming sensuality. Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com, May
18 2001
- She becomes lovers with Christian, but Kidman never quite connects
with McGregor, who strikes the only notes of genuine emotion in the
movie. Entertainment Weekly, May 25 2001 (Thanks Dakota)
- McGregor’s generous, openhearted performance warms up Kidman’s
alabaster-cool beauty. Both stars hurl themselves into the movie’s
reckless spirit, unafraid of looking foolish, adroitly attuned to
Luhrmann’s abrupt swings from farce to tragedy. (And both sing well.)
John Horn, Newsweek, May 28 2001
- Both Kidman and McGregor have excellent voices. The two also share a
great chemistry, and McGregor, as a leading man, has never looked
better. (For one thing, he manages to keep his clothes on in this film,
a gesture for which we should all feel grateful.) From his work in
several films, including "Trainspotting" (1996), he has also shown he is
a talented actor; "Moulin Rouge" is no exception. Paul Clinton, CNN,
May 31 2001
- McGregor is all wide eyes and boyish intensity, easing naturally
from spoken word to warbled lyric and revealing a surprisingly strong
voice. Rick Groen, Globe and Mail, June 1 2001
- Luckily McGregor, the movie's most engaging performer, is convincing
enough to sell the mutual attraction. The "Trainspotting" star is
usually playing some kind of freak, and this is a nice stretch for him.
Rita Kempley, The Washington Post, June 1 2001
- McGregor's appealing as always. He's a great sport of an actor,
who's always game for a new challenge. He makes a truly sweet-natured
character. Desson Howe, The Washington Post, June 1 2001
- If McGregor does not get an Oscar nomination, there is no justice in
Hollywood. He achieves the near impossible in making Christian a
starry-eyed innocent without ever sacrificing the man's masculinity. He
sings and dances with as much sincerity and credibility as he pines for
Satine or rages against her when she is forced to reject his love.
Louis Hobson, Calgary Sun, June 1 2001 (Thanks Carol)
- McGregor and Kidman, he arresting, she luminous, sing their own
songs and do so surpassingly well. Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle,
June 1 2001
- McGregor reveals a fine tenor voice as the lovestruck lead, but it’s
Kidman who steals the movie with a devastating display of sultry allure.
BBC Films, June 22 2001
- As for Ewan McGregor, he is the happiest he has been in a long time,
after a run of dodgy roles which had threatened to obliterate our memory
of him in Trainspotting or Shallow Grave. His open, likeable face
actually responds rather well to Luhrmann's hyperactive, beady-eyed
direction, and this is an engaging and attractive performance. The
Guardian, September 7 2001
- Kidman and McGregor have that rare thing, real chemistry, and each
gives a superb, profoundly moving performance. Liz Beardsworth,
Empire Magazine, October 2001
- Is anything harder, in 2001, than for an actor to move us with
unironic romantic sincerity? We've thought EWAN McGREGOR rocked since
''Trainspotting,'' but his emotionally exuberant, heartfelt work in
''Moulin Rouge'' positively dazzled us. Actors, of all Academy voters,
shouldn't miss a chance to reward such a genuinely bold, risky
performance. (And he sings, too.) Entertainment Weekly, January 14
2002
- Ewan McGregor sometimes comes off as all-too-tragically hip. In edgy
fare such as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, McGregor seemed talented,
but possibly a tad to cool for his own good. And even as the young Obi
Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode 1-Phantom Menace, he appeared to be
holding back, as if he were leaving his options open. But his latest
movie is a musical about star-crossed lovers, set in Paris of 1899 and
co-starring Nicole Kidman. And as its struggling writer-hero, McGregor
is required to sing such songs as Elton John's "Your Song", Dolly
Parton's "I Will Always Love You", Sting's "Roxanne" and even a bit of
Rodger and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music." You don't hold back on
songs like these. You either give them your whole heart or you’re lost.
McGregor meets the challenge by commiting to the film as he has never
committed to a film before. His ardent eyes and hungry mouth are always
before us, and his strong, slightly dusty voice makes his songs seem
newly inspired. Although McGregor has appeared physically naked in some
of his earlier films, he has never been as emotionally naked as he is,
fully dressed, in Moulin Rouge. He opens himself up to us, and what he
reveals turns out to be almost alarmingly charming. Even in scenes where
he doesn't sing, the power of his musical numbers carry over, filling
his work with a previously untapped passion....in the end this is Ewan
McGregor's show. It could, in fact, be a career-changing film. Musicals
are out of fashion, so McGregor might not have many other chances to
sing on screen. But if he can find a way to find the sort of passion in
nonmusical roles that he does here, who knows how far he'll go?
Basically, he just needs to keep a song in his heart. Jay Boyar,
Orlando Sentinel (Thanks Carol)
- McGregor is convincingly impassioned and has a lovely, husky voice,
which works wonders on "Your Song." David Noh, Film Journal
International
- (from: The 100 Greatest Performances Ignored by Oscar)
#59, Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge. Falling in love may be hard to do, but it's even harder to do on screen. So why do we buy the doomed romance between McGregor's scriber and Nicole Kidman's courtesan? One word: abandon. Even though Kidman caught Oscar's eye, his is the stronger voice, his is the grander journey, and his is the heavier burden. He has to be a man who could steal the sparkling diamond's heart, and then risk his own. Entertainment Weekly, November 2002 (thanks Karen)
- (from an article outlining 100 under-rated performances over 70 years of film making)
Ewan McGregor in "Moulin Rouge": Heaven knows why pretty-but-inadequate Nicole Kidman was Oscar-nominated but not her leading man. McGregor not only acts circles around Kidman but also sings infinitely better. As he proved in "Velvet Goldmine," he could easily be a rock star if he tires of acting. Mick LaSalle, Edward Guthman and Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle, August 10 2003 (thank you Akemi)
- Nora (2000)
- When I saw Ewan McGregor first I wondered how he would do it, but in
the film he is very convincing as Joyce, even in appearance. Ken
Monaghan, nephew of Joyce and a director of the James Joyce Cultural
Centre, The Irish Times, April 4 2000
- To his credit, however, McGregor vividly conveys Joyce's inner
torment and anguished insecurities even as the writer appears most
petulant and cruel. Without making obvious plays for audience sympathy,
McGregor manages to render the exasperating Joyce as something far more
complex --- and much more forgivable --- than a manipulative lout.
Variety, May 8 2000
- It's entirely appropriate to history, then, if not to audience
satisfaction, that Lynch acts McGregor off the screen. Our Ewan, once
famed for his cheeky chappie manner and his willingness to flash his
wedding tackle, is positively understated here. His Joyce is a coward,
cowering behind a moustache that looks like a small comb stuck to his
lip. Nick Curtis, This is London, May 18 2000
- Ewan McGregor's supposed genius is as dull as Dublin ditchwater, a
petulant bore in silly glasses who not even this adoring Nora could
truly love. That's fatal, and Pat Murphy, plodding from one setpiece to
another as though turning the pages of a colour supplement, is powerless
to compensate. What's going wrong with McGregor, in dire need of a
charisma transplant? It isn't the roles that are thrust upon him: he is
co-producer of this dud. He thrust, nay impaled, himself. The
Guardian, May 21 2000
- But one thing the film does get right is that Nora ruled. Her
criticisms were like high-velocity bullets, her sexual power a god that
demanded worship. Joyce was amazed by her. So it's kind of fitting that
McGregor's Joyce is a bit grey. He uses a walking stick as though it is
the lone thing keeping him up in the presence of Lynch and her terrific
Scorpio nose. Murphy never thoroughly shows us the eccentric, sneering,
sexy, overwhelming Joyce. But if there's one thing McGregor can do well,
it's looking ordinary but extraordinarily furtive, gamely embodying an
unspecified élan. (McGregor is an interesting figure, not lavishly
talented but always working himself into unusual places. He should be
pleased with this film, however, the first credible effort from his
production company Natural Nylon.) The Independent, May 22
2000
- McGregor offers a phenomenal performance as Joyce with the sheer
terror and anguish in his face emphasising the turmoil his character is
continually experiencing. Sarah Sheere, The Irish World, May 26
2000
- This Joyce is a role that plays to McGregor's strength, a
contradictory, intense character whose seething intellect, self-belief
and agonising renders him disarming despite the cruel and strange
workings of a hectic imagination. Angie Errigo, Empire Magazine, June
2000
- Ewan McGregor’s Joyce is little more than a grumpy sod with a short
fuse, while Susan Lynch’s Nora is an irritating, endlessly moaning bint.
Five minutes in their company is enough for anyone, let alone almost two
hours. And the sex scenes are grim. Empire Magazine, November
2000
- "Nora," directed by Pat Murphy and adapted by her and Gerard
Stembridge from Maddox's book, is a gorgeous period piece with rich,
vigorous portrayals of Joyce by Ewan McGregor (who co-produced) and
Barnacle by Susan Lynch. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, May 4
2001
- Ewan McGregor is good in the role even if his Irish accent is
occasionally forced. There's also a simplistic glamourising of the
pair's poverty, but the film is an interesting take on a fascinating
pair. William Gallagher, BBC Online
- McGregor's charm seeps through, however hard he tries to surpress
it. There is no sense of an extraordinary mind at work here, but then
the Joyce of this movie is not the literary innovator, so much as the
on-again-off-again lover. Inside Out
- Eye of the Beholder (1999)
- Likewise, playing a forlorn, buttoned-up, closed-off weirdo is a
departure for the normally ebullient McGregor, and he shows he can do
it. But who needs to see it? San Francisco Chronicle, January 28
2000
- McGregor's performance being so flat and devoid of feeling that his
character emerges as less than a zero. Stephen Holden, New York
Times, January 28 2000
- When hunter and hunted finally meet in an Alaskan diner, Judd and
McGregor achieve Mulder-and-Scully chemistry; two consummate pros
haven't slummed so grandly in a genre piece since Pacino and De Niro
went mano a mano over Formica in Heat. Village Voice, February 2
2000
- Remember Ewan McGregor? Scotch geezer with a big willy who was
tipped for the top. Did a couple of good films with the Shallow Grave
gang then split from the group to go solo. Popped up in Rogue Trader,
Phantom Menace, Velvet Goldmine. A brief history of bum performances.
Reclaimed some credibility with Nora as Jim Joyce. Surely you remember
him. Well, here he is again as The Eye in Stephan "Priscilla" Elliott's
lamentable screen version of Marc Behm's existential private eye novel,
providing more evidence that he either a) has an acting range measurable
in millimetres or b) should sack his agent. Neil Norman, This is
London, June 8 2000
- McGregor, the Scottish actor ("Trainspotting") who plays the young
Obi-Wan in the new Star Wars series, has it worse. In the book, the Eye
is a much older man whose wife ran off with their daughter. Unable to
find his now-adult child, the Eye sees Joanna as a substitute and
becomes her guardian angel. The French director Claude Miller filmed
Behm's novel in 1983 as Deadly Run, with the fiftyish Michel Serrault as
the Eye and Isabelle Adjani as Joanna. McGregor, 29, is miscast in a
role that makes little sense even on a Freudian level. Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone
- Saddled with a somewhat drab and reactive role, McGregor tries hard
to make us care about The Eye, but it's an uphill struggle. Ed
Kelleher, Film Journal International
- It's a bit confusing in the early stages, but the enjoyably dogged
performance of Ewan McGregor, the sexy, disturbing presence of Ashley
Judd and the tart contributions of k.d. laing, as The Eye's boss, make
this most unusual road movie well worth a visit. David Stratton, SBS
Movie Show - Australia (Thanks Darth Mystique)
- By choosing to cast an actor of Ewan McGregor's age in the role of
'the Eye' Stephan Elliott has deflected a connection between the Eye's
obsession with his missing daughter and the woman he obsessively
follows. Also McGregor never looks totally at ease in American movies,
despite the fact that he's a fine performer. Margaret Pomerantz, SBS
Movie Show - Australia (Thanks Darth Mystique)
- Rogue Trader (1999)
- McGregor, miscast, is far too boyishly likable in the lead role.
Variety, June 28 1999
- You don't give a hoot about The Phantom Menace, yet somewhere deep
inside, you suspect it won't be a fulfilling summer without a shot of
Ewan McGregor. Witness here, then, the Scotsman's fine turn as Nick
Leeson, the British futures trader whose fast-and-loose market
executions brought down his employer, Barings, the prominent English
bank. Ginia Bellafante, Time Magazine, June 1999
- It is a credit to McGregor's dynamic and infectious central
performance that his powers of persuasion and deception are equally
convincing to the audience. Trevor Lewis, Empire Magazine, July 1999
- For all his star quality and the energy he invests in his
performance, there is only so much that Ewan McGregor can do to elevate
Rogue Trader above the limitations of its rudimentary screenplay.
Irish Times
- It's a boring, cynical film and deserves to go totally unnoticed
except for Ewan McGregor's performance which achieves charisma beyond
its subject matter. Margaret Pomerantz, SBS Movie Show - Australia
(Thanks Darth Mystique)
- There's no suspense, because we know the outcome, and Ewan McGregor
gives a one-dimensional performance, while Anna Friel has a thankless
role as his doormat wife. Looks like a telemovie. David Stratton, SBS
Movie Show - Australia (Thanks Darth Mystique)
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
- McGregor's Obi-Wan will undoubtedly emerge more decisively in
subsequent installments, but here is relegated to second-banana status;
actor does, however, register some subtle, and entirely appropriate,
echoes of Guinness' vocal inflections. Variety, May 17
1999
- Ewan McGregor, a naturally dashing actor, is stymied by the flat and
passive character of young Obi-Wan Kenobi, though his echoes of Alec
Guinness are uncanny at times. Janet Maslin, New York Times, May 19
1999
- Ewan McGregor does some masterly vocal work, finding a way to blend
his Scottish accent with an approximation of Alec Guinness' purr. But
the role allows no room for McGregor's fire. And why cast one of the few
young actors around who has the dash to play a hero if you don't allow
him a hero's panache and reckless bravery? Charles Taylor, salon.com,
May 19 1999
- The camera occasionally catches Ewan McGregor, as Neeson's
apprentice, plainly telegraphing the worry that he might have allowed
some part of his face to move. Greg Burk, L.A. Weekly, May 21
1999
- McGregor has an engaging sweetness, but Obi-Wan, disappointingly, is
just an eager servant-sidekick here. The next episode, in which he
trains the teenage Anakin, sounds as if it may balance psychology and
spectacle with greater resonance than this one. Entertainment Weekly,
May 21 1999
- McGregor appears to be waiting for craft services most of the time.
Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle, May 21 1999
- As for Ewan McGregor, what happened? He looks as if he just sat on
the sharp end of his lightsabre. It must have taken some nerve to drain
the charisma out of this cheerful Scotsman and force him to speak like
Noël Coward. McGregor may well be laughed off the screen when the movie
opens in Britain - an unthinkable turn of events. His first words in the
film are "I have a bad feeling about this." Yes, laddie, and you've got
two more episodes to go. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, May 24
1999
- But what's suprising about (McGregor’s) Phantom Menace performance
is that Lucas chose not to highlight the very qualities that have helped
turn him into an international icon, the biggest Scottish star since
Sean Connery. Instead, we get a rather stern McGregor, a straight-arrow
Jedi Knight who talks in the rounded tones of a middle-class Englishman.
That's because he's in the bizarre position of having to play a younger
version of the character Alec Guinness created in the original Star
Wars. David Eimer, This is London, July 8 1999
- McGregor is more of a problem, seldom showing his natural vivacity
as an actor. San Francisco Chronicle, April 7 2000
- Liam Neeson brings a nice weight to his character, and Natalie
Portman is beautiful and graceful in her role but Ewan McGregor seems
uncomfortable as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Margaret Pomerantz, SBS Movie Show -
Australia (Thanks Darth Mystique)
- Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs
(1998) - play
- McGregor is the production's self-evident calling card, and it's
typical of this actor's idiosyncratic career that "Little Malcolm" is
weird and compelling (…) In the wrong hands, Scrawdyke could emerge
merely as a pathetic bully, a no-hoper artist whose delusional revolt
engenders little more than disgust. Instead, McGregor inspires sympathy
for Scrawdyke, without once sentimentalizing a man whose garrulousness
comes to include the painful self-knowledge that he is a dysfunctional,
sexually frustrated kid on the verge of suicide, not the would-be
Napoleon preparing his own Elba. It's a long and potentially bravura
role in which McGregor delivers the goods. Variety, November 23,
1998
- Last night Ewan McGregor, who has shown himself not averse to
dropping his trousers in the cause of art, made a most impressive London
theatre debut and revealed he is far more than just a pretty cinematic
face and body. Playing Malcolm, the crazy, mixed-up art student who
wants to rule the world but cannot even screw up the courage to invite a
girl to bed, McGregor damps down his famous sex appeal, sports a fuzzy
beard and turns in a seriously funny comic performance (…) McGregor, who
loses neither his charisma nor his personality on stage, makes terrific
fun of Malcolm by refusing to send him up. He has all the bustling,
self-absorbed, humourless ardour of the fanatic and narcissist as he
struts around in his greatcoat reeking of phoney grandeur. Nicholas
de Jongh, The London Evening Standard
- Although cast against type, he acquits himself extremely well in
Denis Lawson’s swift, sharply edited revival of David Halliwell’s 1965
play (…) Even if it is difficult to accept McGregor as a man reduced to
tongue-tied, virginal gaucheness in the presence of the girl who invades
his patch, he still gives a commanding performance. With his scrawny
beard and military greatcoat, he looks like a would-be student Napoleon.
He also conveys the essential difference between the bullying public
figure and the man who crumbles into nothingness in his own company. It
is a performance that proves conclusively McGregor can hold a stage.
Michael Billington, The Guardian
- The play’s rather laboured point is that collective violence has its
origins in individual weakness and McGregor powerfully conveys the
enraged frustration of the terminally weak-willed. It is (the author’s)
fault, not his, that you cannot believe in the escalation from early
tomfoolery to the ugly violence of the scene where Lou Gish’s
plain-speaking Ann is beaten up by Malcolm and gang for no greater
offence than having seen through them. It says a lot for the leading
actor’s charm that he can regain the audience’s sympathy after this.
Paul Taylor, The Independent
- Ewan McGregor returns in triumph to the stage (...) McGregor makes a
most sympathetic lout and strikes with uncanny precision to the heart of
a born leader with no guts to govern. Daily Mail
- Thanks to nifty direction and terrific performances from McGregor
and an outstanding supporting cast, this second-rate play turns out to
be a remarkably effective and often hilariously funny night at the
theatre. The Daily Telegraph
- McGregor does not bring emotional unity to a character writer David
Halliwell variously sees as vulnerable, paranoid, silly and dangerous.
Yet at different moments he proves capable of sulking and brooding
bashfully, squirming and gurgling as he rehearses a love speech (…) His
escape from screen to stage was well worth it. The Times
- McGregor is terrific, a real live-wire who bounds over the stage
with a springy cat-like grace. Yet he doesn’t quite pin down the
dangerous side of Malcolm nor his sexual inadequacy. Georgina Brown,
Mail on Sunday
- In the performance I saw, at the end of the play's run, McGregor was
flawless. Even in the laggard second half, his timing kept the action
going like clockwork, and he managed to make even the play's most
obvious message-board diatribes about the dangers of haphazard
radicalism sound as if they were being spoken by a real person -- no
small feat. Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com, May 12 1999
- This is a perfect project for Ewan. This is where his heart is.
Doing small films, small plays. It was perfect that he should pick
something that's not glamorous, that has a point, has a social point,
that's about some real people. It fits perfectly into his sort of psyche
and sensibility of what attracts him. Baz Bamigbove, Ewan McGregor:
From Scotland to the Stars (video), 2000 (thanks Amy)
- Little Voice (1998)
- McGregor's role is underwritten, and doesn't come through in the
latter stages to fill in some of the emotional void in the final act.
Variety, October 6 1998
- When George and Billy, two telephone repairmen, visit the unhappy
home to work on the line, shy, young Billy, played with delightful,
subtle charm by Ewan McGregor, becomes curious about the strange, wispy
girl too shy to speak. Heather Clisby, Movie Magazine International,
December 2 1998
- McGregor will be virtually unrecognizable to fans accustomed to his
usual cocky, charismatic roles. Here he imparts absolute believability
and sweetness as a sensitive, tongue-tied young man with a passion for
homing pigeons and a crush on LV. Jean Oppenheimer, Los Angeles New
Times, December 3 1998
- McGregor gives a nice understated portrayal as Billy. Paul
Clinton, CNN, December 4 1998
- Apparently Ewan McGregor is an actor who can do anything, even turn
a meek telephone installer into a serious charmer. Janet Maslin, New
York Times, December 4 1998
- Usually seen in energetic, high octane roles like "Velvet Goldmine"
and "Trainspotting," McGregor is convincingly well-modulated as the
timid Billy. He's another nervous non-communicator, more at home up on
the roof with his pigeons than downstairs with people. Kenneth Turan,
Los Angeles Times, December 4 1998
- I wished (Herman had) given Horrocks more to do in her scenes with
Ewan McGregor as the telephone repairman's apprentice who falls for LV.
(It's a nothing role, but McGregor's sweetness, as when he tenderly
kisses the head of one of his ailing carrier pigeons, is undeniable. He
seems to show another side of himself in each new performance.)
Charles Taylor, salon.com, December 4 1998
- For example, that tacked-on pigeon sub-plot never really gets off
the ground, with a miscast McGregor (no one's idea of a wallflower) only
deepening the problem. Rick Groen, Globe and Mail, December 24
1998
- Horrocks handles LV's transformation from childlike naif to sultry
stage siren as perfectly as she did on stage, while her "romance" with
the boldly-cast-against-type McGregor is as innocent and touching as
they come. Empire Magazine, February 1999
- In "Little Voice," he's saddled with a dreadful role of male
wallflower -- he's a pigeon keeper who falls for the movie's main
character, LV (the magnificent Jane Horrocks), a withdrawn young girl
with the uncanny ability to mimic go-for-broke singers like Judy Garland
and Shirley Bassey -- but he elevates it without even trying. When he
kisses one of his beloved birds on the head, or looks at LV with
lovestruck wonder, his boyish innocence is miraculously easy and
unforced; he hangs back just enough to make the performance work,
whereas lesser actors would turn the tap on full blast. Stephanie
Zacharek, salon.com, May 12 1999
- What rescues the film somewhat are the performances by Horrocks and
by Ewan McGregor as Billy, a pigeon fancier who works as a telephone
installer. He is drawn to Little Voice's shyness and to her
separateness, qualities he shares. Together, they seem to rise above the
gritty, working-class reality of this seaside town, he with his pigeons
and Little Voice with her music. McGregor, who appeared in Brassed Off
and in Trainspotting, shows a different side here, an ability to handle
an introverted and emotionally complex character. Horrocks is nothing
short of magnificent. Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
- Velvet Goldmine (1998)
- McGregor is perfectly brilliant as the charismatic and
heroine-addicted Wild, delivering concert performances worthy of the
best rock idols. Reuters, May 22 1998
- Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), whose audacious act (including rude
posturing, full frontal nudity and diving through flames into the
audience) makes Slade realize he's seen the future. McGregor's
ejaculatory performance in this number is amazing, fully convincing as
the Iggy Pop-like maniac he's supposed to be (…) McGregor, while
exciting in the musical interludes, seems vaguely off the mark as the
unhinged but inspired American performer. Variety, May 25
1998
- Although Ewan McGregor has already established himself, in Trainspotting and other movies, as a gifted young actor, I doubt that anybody will be prepared for the demented abandon of his performance as Curt Wild. He's made up to look like Iggy (with a touch of Kurt Cobain), but looks are easy; you don't expect an actor playing a singer to be able to put over a song with this kind of force. McGregor sings in his own voice and waves his own dick around like a genuine madman - but then if an Iggy impersonation isn't scary, it's nothing. Craig Seligman, ArtForum Magazine, October 1998 (thanks Karen)
- Haynes fashions a fresco of seductive grotesques--notably the
Iggy-esque Curt Wild, whom Ewan McGregor inhabits as a writhing punk-
sprite. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine, October 12 1998
- Rhys-Meyers may not be as seductive as the script insists, but his
focused petulance projects something of Bowie's lunar coldness; as his
wife, Collette has a complementary sullenness, but McGregor pogos off
with the movie as the lunatic Wild— and he can sing too. J. Hoberman,
The Village Voice, November 3 1998
- Wild, stitched together from the mythologies of Lou Reed and Iggy
Pop, is a walking tragedy - talented, fuckable, doomed - a muse ripe for
the picking. McGregor exudes both fury and an impossibly sad
romanticism, making even dopily romantic lines ("The world has changed
'cause you're made of ivory and gold - the curves of your lips rewrite
history") go down sweetly. Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly, November 6
1998
- But even with that riot of plumage and color, with actors who ably conjure the cocky androgyny and chintzy theatricality of the era, and a sensational, reckless
performance by Ewan McGregor as a rock star named Curt Wild, ``Velvet
Goldmine'' seems cold and impenetrable (…) Haynes' technique is
distancing and convoluted, but whenever McGregor gets a chance, he
demonstrates a stage presence so fierce and energetic that he might want
to think about splitting his time between movies and music. His Curt
Wild is an amalgam of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Mick Ronson of T. Rex, but
also evokes grunge legend Kurt Cobain with his stringy blond hair and
air of tragic inevitability. He's a wonderful actor, but he can't save
``Velvet Goldmine'' from being the emotionally chilly experience it is.
San Francisco Chronicle, November 6 1998
- Playing what he has rightly called "a birthday present of a part,"
Ewan McGregor makes a fabulously charismatic rock star named Curt Wild,
who is both reproach and object of fascination for Brian Slade. Whatever
else he may be, McGregor's often hilariously decadent Curt Wild is the
real thing. Janet Maslin, New York Times, November 6 1998
- But it's Collette and McGregor, as the crucial elbows of the story's
love triangle, who really shine. McGregor's Wild is a rock star who
comes complete with a mythology of having grown up in a trailer park and
undergone shock treatments as a kid ("to fry the fairy right out of
him," as one character puts it). McGregor nails Wild's willfulness but
also his vulnerability. In one sequence, with his bleached hair and
skinny jerseys, Wild could pass for Kurt Cobain's identical twin --
perhaps as Haynes' way of pointing to the future. Even when Wild is up
to obnoxious rock-star antics, like pissing outdoors against an iron
gate, there's so much satyr-like delight in his smile and his laugh that
it's hard not to laugh along with him. Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com,
November 6 1998
- The performances of Rhys Meyers and, especially, McGregor are eerie
surface pantomimes, but Haynes never gets inside these two as
individuals, and on some level you sense that he doesn't want to.
Entertainment Weekly, November 6 1998
- American underground rocker Curt Wild (McGregor, doing an Iggy
Pop/Lou Reed amalgam to scary perfection), a dionysian madman who
becomes an obsession for Slade, first inspiring his career, then
threatening to destroy it. Russell Smith, The Austin Chronicle,
November 6 1998
- Wild is actually an amalgam of Iggy Pop, a little Lou Reed and a
dash of Bowie's longtime guitarist Mick Ronson. McGregor is relatively
convincing emulating Iggy (though he ends up looking more like Kurt
Cobain). He actually sings the Pop songs that appear in the film (…)
While McGregor and Collette shine in their masquerades, pretty boy
Rhys-Meyers is simply too thick, and lacking in genuine charisma, to
carry the central impersonation, musically or dramatically. Richard
Harrington, Washington Post , November 6 1998
- Curt Wild, the Iggy Pop-like loose cannon played by Ewan McGregor
with such incendiary abandon he becomes the film's manic heartbeat.
David Ansen, Newsweek, November 9 1998
- Several characters come and go with little explanation, and the
acting is wildly inconsistent. McGregor, as the drugged-out American
punk Wild, is the only actor who seems to break sweat. Globe and
Mail, November 13 1998
- Ewan McGregor plays Wild, and he fares much better than Rhys-Meyers
does, although (when they're not performing) even he doesn't do much but
look like he's nodding out on smack. Paul Tatara, CNN, November 16
1998
- Into the mix comes McGregor as Curt Wild, slurring his way through a
reasonable Iggy Pop impersonation (although any actor who, with bare
chest, long blond hair and tight trousers, couldn't manage one should
hand back his Equity card). Empire Magazine, November
1998
- Ewan McGregor gives Curt Wild the suck-my-cock swagger of the Iggy
Pop who transfixed Bowie. Rhys Meyers and McGregor throw themselves into
the makeup, the clothes, the drugs, the bi sex and the blazing music
with a dynamism that is never less than mesmeric. Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone
- Rhys-Meyers and Bale just appear to be posing in their costumes and
makeup, but McGregor actually seems to become the drugged-out,
sex-starved musician. His two stage performances are electrifying for
their pure audacity and vulgarity. McGregor's Wild is the true libertine
who crashes the world of these pretty poseurs. Without McGregor, Velvet
Goldmine would be little more than a pretentious glam-rock video.
Because of his raunchy, gritty performance, Velvet Goldmine has moments
of real brilliance. Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun, April 19
1999
- McGregor plays the quintessential bad-boy rock star, only badder.
Onstage, scrawny, shirtless and raw, he's the picture of voraciously
omnisexual masculinity -- like Mick Jagger with balls instead of nuts
(…) What's wonderful about the performance is the way McGregor balances
the feral sexual menace of his character with a carefully veiled yet
undeniable crushability. When Wild kisses Arthur (played by Christian
Bale), it's his sexuality -- not necessarily his homosexuality -- that
shines through. It's not that the homoerotic quality of his scenes is in
any way denied or downplayed; it's just that McGregor is so believable
as a lover, so free of awkwardness or shyness, that his character
doesn't seem to be wearing any kind of a gay/straight/other ID label --
he's a sensual human being, plain andd simple, a quality that's
shockingly elusive in portrayals of gay, lesbian and straight characters
in the movies these days. Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com, May 12
1999
- One can certainly understand Slade's instant attraction to
McGregor's pleasingly uninhibited Wild, a devastating cross between Jim
Morrison and Kurt Cobain (whom he uncannily resembles), especially in
his first number, which has him doffing leather trou for the delectation
of all. David Noh, Film Journal International
- This surreal musical pastiche swathed in satin and boas certainly
boasts one of the maximum-volume supporting performances of the year as
Ewan McGregor dives head first into his part of Iggy Pop-ish American
rocker Curt Wild. Half rabid mutt, half mad imp, he rages from the stage
with sparkles on his sweaty chest and his pants around his ankles. He's
sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll personified. Susan Wloszczyna, USA
TODAY
- Nightwatch (1998)
- McGregor is quite good and credible as the protagonist, but he
mostly serves as the anchor of a rudderless ship. Variety, April 13
1998
- McGregor’s American accent wobbles in and out, but it’s amusing to
watch the British struggle with that for a change. San Francisco
Chronicle, April 17 1998
- McGregor is fun because his Martin is just enough of a punk and a
show-off to deserve a good scare. Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun, April
17 1998
- MacGregor (sic) plays an American effectively, losing his Scottish
accent. Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun, April 17 1998
- McGregor acquits himself admirably here (nice Yank accent). Marc
Savlov, The Austin Chronicle, June 19 1998
- A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
- As the naive Scottish dreamer adrift in America's wide-open spaces,
McGregor is very good, with boyish appeal to spare. Variety, October
19 1997
- McGregor, at his best, recalls the sort of performance Dudley Moore
was giving 25 years ago. This is London, October 23 1997
- Still, there are Diaz and McGregor to enjoy, and that is no small
thing. She is a former model without an extensive acting background
before her debut in "The Mask," but she excels within her range, and she
is every bit the sparkling equal of the trained, experienced McGregor,
who is virtuoso enough to have appeared in the very different
"Trainspotting," "Emma" and "The Pillow Book," all in the same year.
Unlikely as it sounds, these two make a swell match on screen. At least
heaven got that much right. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, October
24 1997
- "A Life Less Ordinary" certainly shows off Boyle's flamboyant visual
cleverness, along with the unmistakable appeal of Ewan McGregor, who has
starred in all three of his films. Charming and sheepishly funny here,
McGregor plays a janitor named Robert, who is the film's most demure
invention. Janet Maslin, New York Times, October 24 1997
- If (Cameron Diaz) had been matched with a real star, fireworks might
have happened. Poor little McGregor seems like the grocery boy who
wandered in, or an electrician's apprentice. The two have almost zero
chemistry and the Ringo Starr haircut just doesn't work at all. Could he
change his T-shirt once in a while? Why, he even wears a plaid dress at
the end. What's that all about? Stephen Hunter, Washington Post,
October 24 1997
- When she's separated from Robert -- emotionally if not physically --
you can see the lovesickness in her eyes. As she arches her lissome
neck, her eyes wander; they're not at home unless they're seeing him.
And given McGregor's boyishness and lanky, butterfingered charm, it's
easy to see why. Robert is a mystery figure in some ways: We never find
out what, with his thick Scottish burr, he's doing in the United States,
or why he wears hideous things like those liquidy nylon photo-print
shirts, or why he's done up in a shaggy '70s Scooby-Doo haircut (which,
somehow, McGregor manages to eroticize, possibly one of the minor
miracles of late-20th century cinema). None of that matters. McGregor --
suggesting awkwardly that he and Celine leave their creaky cabin for a
"date," or singing "Beyond the Sea" to her in a karaoke bar -- burrows
straight into the movie's soul. When Robert tries to explain to Celine,
in a sputtering rush, that she keeps appearing in his dreams ("I was on
a game show, and my life was in danger. My life was in danger, and you
saved it. My heart was beating so fast, and it stopped. I was just about
to die, and you saved it."), his feverish openness stops the movie
momentarily in its tracks. Those strange lines hang in the air like
colored smoke -- they're dream logic, they're not intended to make sense
(until the end of the movie), but McGregor makes them feel urgent and
meaningful anyway. Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com, October 24
1997
- Luckily, McGregor and Diaz make the most of their leading roles —
they can't save the movie, but it's fun watching them try. Andréa C.
Basora, Newsweek, November 3 1997
- McGregor and Diaz can be charming performers, but you'd never guess
it from A Life Less Ordinary. He seems mopey and precious--a Scottish
Andrew McCarthy--and she delivers her lines in the bored whine of a
suburban mall queen. Entertainment Weekly, December 30
1997
- Plot holes are patched by McGregor and Diaz, a sexy star team that
keeps springing surprises, such as karaoke and armed robbery. Peter
Travers, Rolling Stone
- It doesn't help that McGregor plays against type as a hapless
janitor who ineptly takes spoiled rich girl Diaz hostage after her surly
magnate dad (Ian Holm) fires him. The pair bicker over red meat, poorly
written ransom notes and whether McGregor intends to have sex with her.
(She seems to want it bad; he hasn't even considered it.) It takes those
stupid cupids Hunter and Lindo, posing as bounty hunters, to light their
fires. McGregor and Diaz may pack heat, but no real sparks flicker
between them. USA Today
- Serpent’s Kiss (1997)
- Despite his work in "Emma" and the BBC miniseries "Scarlet and
Black," McGregor still looks sorely out of place in a costumer,
particularly one in which his wobbly Dutch accent would seem to give
away his subterfuge, however nimble his repartee. Variety, May 20
1997
- ER – The Long Way Around (1997) –
television
- He made a great critical impression here with Trainspotting and he
made a great impression when he did the ER episode. It was smart to get
on ER because it is the highest rated show on TV. It was a great
showcase for him. He’s a fine young actor and a lot of people saw that.
I think he has definitely been established as a guy to watch. Mike
Fleming, Variety, comments appeared in Ewan McGregor: The Unauthorized
Biography, 1998
- Brassed Off! (1996)
- As Andy, McGregor is relatively subdued. Variety, October 28
1996
- There's the heart-throb McGregor, fresh off his twin triumphs in
Shallow Grave and Trainspotting; there's the lyrical Fitzgerald, who
earned her thespian stripes playing Ophelia to Ralph Fiennes's Hamlet;
and there's the veteran Postlethwaite, who brought such aggrieved
integrity to In the Name of the Father. This trio could breathe the air
of rigorous truth into a Thighmaster infomercial, and they don't
disappoint here. Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail, May 23
1997
- Fitzgerald and McGregor make a charming couple. Desson Howe,
Washington Post, May 30 1997
- There's an easy kind of sweetness between McGregor and Fitzgerald,
but their story is a sliver of a subplot: Maybe we're supposed to be
less interested in them since they don't have families to feed, they're
not dying and they show no evidence of cracking under hardship. (Why
didn't it occur to Herman that maybe we'd want to see more of them
because of that?) Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com, May 30
1997
- Andy, played by Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) in a low-keyed,
ingratiating performance that further illustrates his range and
charisma. Russell Smith, The Austin Chronicle, June 13 1997
- Emma (1996)
- McGregor's chameleonic skills might be the story here were this not
someone else's movie. USA Today
- Ewan McGregor cuts a dashing figure as the flirtatious Frank
Churchill. David Ansen, Newsweek, July 26 1996
- Other performances worth mentioning include Ewan McGregor, a
surprise after the completely different "Trainspotting," who plays the
frisky Frank Churchill, the most eligible of young men. Kenneth
Turan, Los Angeles Times, August 2 1996
- And even with an atrocious hairstyle, McGregor (Trainspotting) pulls
off the somewhat rakish Frank Churchill. Alison Macor, The Austin
Chronicle, August 16 1996
- McGregor looks more like the man with no neck than a sex symbol cad.
William Russell, Glasgow Herald, September 12 1996
- Only Ewan McGregor, as the dashing Frank Churchill, suffers, landed
with a coiffure which suggests he's drifted in from a Dickens novel.
Empire Magazine, October 1996
- Pillow Book (1996)
- The actors lend themselves generously to the director's heady
vision, and bravely take part in some pretty explicit sequences. Wu is
lovely as the intrepid heroine, and McGregor impressive as the
hedonistic Jerome. Variety, May 14 1996
- McGregor shows here, as in Trainspotting, that he is one of cinema's
boldest, most charming young actors. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine,
March 10 1997
- McGregor plays the bisexual Jerome completely straight; he might
have been more convincing with a lighter touch. San Francisco
Chronicle, June 6 1997
- Jerome is played with charming insouciance by Ewan McGregor of
"Trainspotting," in what is sure to be seen as a classic
before-I-was-famous turn. Entirely naked during much of this
performance, and filmed with unswerving intensity, McGregor is
elaborately painted and decorated before meeting the kind of physically
ghastly, intellectually piquant fate that is a frequent Greenaway
flourish. Magnetic as he is, McGregor gets fifth billing for what is
actually the closest thing here to a male leading role. Janet Maslin,
New York Times, June 6 1997
- Trainspotting (1996)
- McGregor, so good in Shallow Grave, matures immeasurably here, his
defiant burr singing out the voiceover, his sullen, mesmerising presence
the film's heart. Ian Nathan, Empire Magazine, March 1996
- Performances are terrific at all levels, with McGregor a likable
Mark. Variety, July 19 1996
- McGregor, a quietly magnetic actor with remarkable range, underplays
Renton to dry perfection without letting viewers lose sight of the
character's appeal. Janet Maslin, New York Times, July 19
1996
- In McGregor (who lost nearly 30 pounds to play the part and will
soon be seen in the very different "Emma") the film has an actor whose
magnetism monopolizes our attention no matter what. Kenneth Turan,
Los Angeles Times, July 19 1996
- Acting by skinny Ewan McGregor (he's more chubby in the upcoming
"Emma") is excellent. Monica Sullivan, Movie Magazine International,
July 24 1996
- It also represents a breakthrough for McGregor, who makes a
charming, unlikely anti-hero. San Francisco Chronicle, July 26
1996
- As Renton, McGregor manages to convey the contradictions within this
messed-up boy without robbing him of resilience and charisma. Hal
Hinson, Washington Post, July 26 1996
- As Renton, Ewan McGregor delivers his needle-sharp narration with
raw charisma. His brash star turn helps make this goon show stimulating
slumming. USA Today
- "Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and
you're still nowhere near it." That testimonial to heroin comes from
Renton, the film's nihilistic anti-hero, played by 25-year-old Ewan
McGregor, who gives a mesmerizing, maliciously funny performance.
Rolling Stone
- McGregor is undoubtedly a real talent. He was good in Shallow Grave
but in Trainspotting he showed he had matured as an actor. Derek
Malcolm, The Guardian, comments appeared in Ewan McGregor: The
Unauthorized Biography, 1998
- But the more we see of Renton, the more obvious it becomes that
McGregor has plenty in common with his American idols (Jimmy Stewart,
Cary Grant), and less with, say, the later generation of actors --
Brando, Dean, De Niro -- who might be more easily connected with
Renton's streetwise demeanor, his seemingly completely modern edginess.
As Renton (…) McGregor shows an astonishing subtlety, an almost
disconcerting inner gravity, that owes more to old Hollywood than to its
more recent past. In "Trainspotting" in particular, he is, quite simply,
a joy to watch -- in the way consternation crosses his face as gently as
a cloud drifting across the landscape, or the way his features soften
and open up, like time-lapse photography of flowers unfolding, when he
takes a hit. You see some fragility in the way McGregor carries his
round-shouldered, lanky frame (he dieted down to 140 pounds for the
role), but the resolute bounce in his gait also betrays an almost
shockingly buoyant confidence. There's a visceral quality to his charm
that's both timeless and completely modern: He conjures average-guy
sweetness without shambling. He transmits a crackling erotic charge,
though he's too much of a goofball to really smolder. The intelligence
in his eyes is always readable, and his comic timing shows the agility
of an acrobat. Stephanie Zacharek, salon.com, May 12 1999
- Central to this supremely confident film is Ewan McGregor. His
performance as the heroin-enslaved Mark Renton still ranks as his best.
BBC Films, January 18 2001
- Blue Juice (1995)
- McGregor, who starred in Scottish flick "Shallow Grave," delivers
the pic's best performance as the bordering-on-psychotic Dean.
Variety, May 31 1995
Trouble is, despite a gonzo
performance by Trainspotter Ewan McGregor, Blue Juice comes 16 years
after Amy Heckerling's now classic and still enjoyable Fast Times At
Ridgemont High. The new English movie seems weak in comparison, and
odious comparisons are inevitable here, especially because McGregor does
Sean Penn (…) McGregor does a homage with his scraggly bearded bozo, a
young man who pushes the envelope in his friendship circle. The
character goes further into darkness than Penn. He gets nastier yet
maintains charm, thanks to McGregor's considerable skills. Nonetheless,
he encapsules nothing except repetition of something we've seen done
better. Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun, June 12 1998
- Shallow Grave (1994)
- (McGregor is) pretty but pretty unconvincing. William Russell,
Glasgow Herald, January 7 1995
- Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor are ideally cast
as the best friends who know way too much and far too little about each
other. Monica Sullivan, Movie Magazine International, February 22
1995
- For their parts, all three leads are mini-masterpieces of audacious,
thoroughly believable acting. Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle,
March 10 1995
- Ewan McGregor stands out as Alex Law, the sarcastic and verbally
abusive chracter who knows exactly how to get rid of a corpse. His dry
sense of humour and bad timing are guaranteed to force a giggle or two
from even the most serious of analysts. John Mase, Heat
- It also gave a young Scottish newcomer by the name of Ewan McGregor
his first chance to shine in a starring role on the big screen.
(Whatever happened to him?) BBC Films, January 24 2001
- Scarlet and Black (1993) -
television
- Ewan McGregor isn’t the slight, pallid figure of the novel but a
Chippendale in a frock-coat and when he encounters Madame de Renal for
the first time you can almost hear the sexual excitement, like the faint
crump of igniting petrol. Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent, November
1 1993
- It may be argued that often 20th century actors never quite look
like the characters described in 19th century novels. That would be
true, I think, of Ewan McGregor, who was far too devastatingly handsome
a toy-boy figure for Julien, who is presented in the novel as a much
more fragile, hesitant and socially insecure creature. Peter
Paterson, Daily Mail, November 1 1993
- McGregor could have beefed up his role a bit. After all, Julien
isn’t a nice bloke – he’s a scheming little git and potential
home-wrecker. Yet he was played as a wet but ambitious hero. Simon
London, Daily Mirror, November 1 1993
- As Julien, Ewan McGregor is simply too soft and too sweet. He’s
meant to be a young man in the grip of a demonic form of ambition, and
yet he struts around looking like a young David Essex. Cosmo
Landesman, The Sunday Times, November 7 1993
- The performance by Ewan seemed short on stamina. A lack of ink in
his quill perhaps? Series like this are costly. No doubt spicy sex helps
sell them around the world. But am I alone in missing the days when BBC
costume drama was innocent enough for the whole family? Joe Steeples,
Sunday Mirror, November 7 1993
- Lipstick on Your Collar (1993) -
television
- We knew nothing about (Hopper) but Ewan McGregor was good in the
part, and in fact the great all-round success of Lipstick is the
casting. Lynn Truss, The Times, March 27 1993
- What the Butler Saw (1993) -
play
- It can't be easy making your stage debut without clothes. Ewan McGregor does it like a future star. His clothed acting confirms this quality. Unnamed local newspaper review (quoted in Ewan McGregor Revealed, E!Entertainment Television, January 19 2002)
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