Not Pictured: The Christophers (CREDIT: NEON/Screenshot)

Starring: Michaela Coel, Ian McKellen, James Corden, Jessica Gunning

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: April 10, 2026 (Theaters)

Here and there, I occasionally assess a movie I’ve seen by asking, “Would I like this to be my life?” Whenever the movie in question takes place in the art world, the answer is almost invariably “No!” So that’s not a good sign for The Christophers, in which Michaela Coel plays a young artist who is hired to sneakily complete a series of unfinished paintings by an aging artist played by Ian McKellen. But this tale actually takes place on the fringes of the art world and toys with the notions that govern it. So I’m saying that despite my built-in skepticism,  there’s some fun to be had along the way. Also, there’s this one part with an art-based reality show that looks pretty awful, but in a kind of subversive way. So no, I don’t want to live the life of The Christophers, but I suspect that the people who made this movie don’t want me to either.

Grade: 5.5 Forgeries out of 8 Christophers