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.
Looking for Eric
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, France, Italy · 2009
1h 59m
Director Ken Loach
Starring Eric Cantona, Steve Evets, Stephanie Bishop, John Henshaw
Genre Comedy, Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Eric is a middle-aged postman and football fanatic who’s been having a rough time ever since his wife left. Suddenly his favorite football player, Eric Cantona of Manchester United, appears and gives him life advice — in his hallucinations. With the philosophical athlete in his corner, Eric may be able to turn his life around.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by A.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.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth 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.
A mashup of Nick Hornby and Martin Scorsese? Why not?
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The British director Ken Loach can be a master of working-class realism, but not in this cranky, rudderless shambles.
The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett
Very funny and a bit sentimental, it's naturalistic comedy of the highest order, with Evets and Henshaw standouts among a terrific cast.
Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek
What’s remarkable about Looking for Eric is the number of ways in which it ALMOST works.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Experiment
(Das Experiment)
As part of a psychological research project, twenty recruits will be divided up into prisoners and guards, in a controlled penitentiary-like environment.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2001
- Director Oliver Hirschbiegel
- Cast Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Stephan Szasz, Polat Dal
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Two brothers in the IRA are at odds as they engage in guerrilla warfare against British forces in the 1920s.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany • 2006
- Director Ken Loach
- Cast Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Gerard Kearney, William Ruane
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Microsoft Store, Plex, Plex Channel
Z
He is alive!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Algeria • 1969
- Director Costa-Gavras
- Cast Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner, Bernard Fresson
- Genre Drama, History, Thriller
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse works alongside Sergeant Lewis to investigate murders in the Oxford area.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 1987
- Creator Tony Warren, Colin Dexter
- Cast John Thaw, Kevin Whately, Peter Woodthorpe, James Grout, Clare Holman, Liz Kettle
- Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Available on BritBox, BritBox Amazon Channel, Britbox Apple TV Channel
That Most Important Thing: Love
(L'Important c'est d'aimer)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy, West Germany • 1975
- Director Andrzej Żuławski
- Cast Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, Jacques Dutronc, Claude Dauphin, Roger Blin, Nicoletta Machiavelli
- Genre Drama, Romance, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Kanopy
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
(Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
A film for all the young lovers of the world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, West Germany • 1964
- Director Jacques Demy
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Mireille Perrey, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Starter for 10
A working-class student navigates his first year at the University of Bristol.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2006
- Director Tom Vaughan
- Cast James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Tate, Dominic Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Planet of the Vampires
(Terrore nello spazio)
This was the day the universe trembled before the demon forces of the killer planet!
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 1965
- Director Mario Bava
- Cast Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Stelio Candelli, Franco Andrei
- Genre Science Fiction, Horror
- Available on ScreenPix Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, FlixFling, Pluto TV, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Momo
(Momo alla conquista del tempo)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Germany • 2001
- Director Enzo D'Alò
- Cast Erica Necci, Giancarlo Giannini, Diego Abatantuono, Sergio Rubini, Neri Marcorè, Riccardo Rossi
- Genre Animation, Family
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Bread and Roses
The Balance of Power Is About to Change
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, Germany • 2000
- Director Ken Loach
- Cast Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Jack McGee, Monica Rivas, Frankie Davila, Lillian Hurst
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ulysses
(Ulisse)
History's Greatest Epic...On the Screen at Last!
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, United States • 1954
- Director Mario Camerini
- Cast Kirk Douglas, Silvana Mangano, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podestà, Jacques Dumesnil, Daniel Ivernel
- Genre Adventure, Fantasy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Daisies
(Sedmikrásky)
Decadence and destruction!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Czechoslovakia • 1966
- Director Věra Chytilová
- Cast Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová, Marie Češková, Jiřina Myšková, Julius Albert
- Genre Comedy, Fantasy
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV
The Sea Wall
(Un barrage contre le Pacifique)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Cambodia, Belgium • 2009
- Director Rithy Panh
- Cast Gaspard Ulliel, Isabelle Huppert, Stéphane Rideau, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Vincent Grass, Randal Douc
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mookie
- ✭ ✭
- France • 1998
- Director Hervé Palud
- Cast Eric Cantona, Jacques Villeret, Emiliano Suarez, Carla Ortiz, Harry Porter, Valérie Bonneton
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Two Faces of January
A con artist and his wife ensnare a stranger in their criminal pursuits.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, United States • 2014
- Director Hossein Amini
- Cast Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Yiğit Özşener, Daisy Bevan, David Warshofsky
- Genre Thriller
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex Channel
I, Daniel Blake
One man's heartfelt journey through a cruel, Kafkaesque bureaucratic system.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, Belgium • 2016
- Director Ken Loach
- Cast Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Dylan McKiernan, Briana Shann, Kate Rutter, Sharon Percy
- Genre Drama
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Another World
(Un autre monde)
A manager at an industrial conglomerate goes through a crisis of conscience when he is asked to initiate more layoffs.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2022
- Director Stéphane Brizé
- Cast Vincent Lindon, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anthony Bajon, Marie Drucker, Olivier Lemaire, Guillaume Draux
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.