Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel are razor-sharp in art comedy film

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in a scene from “The Christophers” (Neon) [AP Photo]

The Christophers” looks like an art heist movie at first. A pair of wannabe heirs (James Corden and Jessica Gunning) hire a restoration specialist (Michaela Coel) to finish paintings by their famous father (Ian McKellen), who wants nothing to do with them or the unfinished works that would fetch astronomical prices.

The offspring — whom McKellen’s Julian Sklar calls wrecks, one a train wreck, one a shipwreck — believe they deserve an inheritance they know they won’t receive through any will or talent of their own. The specialist and sometime forger Lori (Coel) has other motives: paying rent, yes, but also revenge. Lori and Julian share a past the film reveals gradually. She’s also been publicly critical of his later work.

But “The Christophers” is not really a heist. There’s the tease of one, and the promise of a con, yet Steven Soderbergh’s latest refuses to deliver the expected thrills. Instead, it becomes a meditation on art, legacy, creativity and the prickly question of who has the right to critique. That may sound heavy, but Ed Solomon’s sharp script and the pairing of McKellen and Coel make this lean two-hander glide.

You can read into how much Soderbergh or Solomon relate to Julian, who is determined to burn, bury and shred the unfinished “Christophers,” paintings of a former boyfriend that made his name. It’s a prickly exercise for any creative to reconcile peaks and lulls — though Julian, at least, achieved fame and wealth.

Julian insists that “to judge art one must possess the skills to make said art,” the sort of line that could fuel endless debate. He is both aging and rebellious, armed with wit, wisdom and a trail of burned bridges. His online presence is reduced to Cameo-style messages for £149 a pop (£249 if he mimes a signature), a sly touch that underscores his faded relevance.

When Lori arrives, he gains an audience for his theatrical musings — entertaining for McKellen and the viewer, less so for Lori, who meets them with steely indifference until she takes control. The generational friction never feels forced. The story zigs and zags as both confront immediate tensions and deeper grievances. The script tosses out ideas without insisting on any as dogma, especially Julian’s stance on criticism, which often feels like the sharpest thing he can say in the moment rather than a firm belief.

There’s an irony in critiquing a film so invested in the act of criticism itself — in what someone behind a keyboard might actually say face-to-face with a creator. Still, it’s not difficult when the result is as solid as “The Christophers,” or when Soderbergh is on a run like this, following “Presence” and “Black Bag.” The scale may be smaller, but the energy and bite remain intact.

[Abridged]

LINDSEY BAHR, MDT/AP Film Writer

“The Christophers,” a Neon release in New York and LA on Friday and nationwide on April 17, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “language.” Running time: 100 minutes. ★★★★