Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Original post date: 29 January 2019
Rating: ✭✭✭✰
Has the New York literary world ever before been as wonderfully de-glamorized as it is in this movie? Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Lee Israel’s confessional memoir could well put anyone off writing as a career. Fortunately, it did not put off Nicole Holofcener (director of movies like Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing and Friends with Money) and Jeff Whitty from writing this screenplay. Some of its early points are a bit obvious, but as the story evolves, we are sucked in and happily along for the ride. Melissa McCarthy is something of a revelation in a role we would expect to see Kathy Bates in. Her dipsomaniac author has few redeeming qualities but we care about her anyway. Ditto the wonderful Richard E. Grant whose patented erudite-sounding waster character never gets old. These two are like wise-cracking denizens escaped from a Charles Bukowski story. We accept Lee’s fraud because we share her satisfaction at having a creative outlet and one that lets her put words into the mouths of icons like Noël Coward and Dorothy Parker. We want her to develop a relationship with shy bookseller Anna (nicely played by Dolly Wells) and despair when she cannot overcome the emotional walls she has built up against everyone except her cat and, gradually, Grant’s Jack Hock. We cheer her on as she defrauds various collectors, some victimized by their own greed, and share her satisfaction when they praise the quality of the forged letters’ writing. By the time we realize how mentally unhealthy McCarthy’s character has become—Jack’s first visit to Lee’s apartment reveals that hygiene is no longer even an afterthought—it is already too late for us to give up on her. There is a great cast of supporting actors, including McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone as a less-than-completely-scrupulous buyer and Saturday Night Live veteran Jane Curtin as Lee’s less-than-completely-supportive agent. Known mainly to date as an actor, Heller previously directed the uncomfortable 2015 coming-of-age film The Diary of a Teenage Girl. This sophomore feature demonstrates clearly she has a voice worth hearing.
Rating: ✭✭✭✰
Has the New York literary world ever before been as wonderfully de-glamorized as it is in this movie? Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Lee Israel’s confessional memoir could well put anyone off writing as a career. Fortunately, it did not put off Nicole Holofcener (director of movies like Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing and Friends with Money) and Jeff Whitty from writing this screenplay. Some of its early points are a bit obvious, but as the story evolves, we are sucked in and happily along for the ride. Melissa McCarthy is something of a revelation in a role we would expect to see Kathy Bates in. Her dipsomaniac author has few redeeming qualities but we care about her anyway. Ditto the wonderful Richard E. Grant whose patented erudite-sounding waster character never gets old. These two are like wise-cracking denizens escaped from a Charles Bukowski story. We accept Lee’s fraud because we share her satisfaction at having a creative outlet and one that lets her put words into the mouths of icons like Noël Coward and Dorothy Parker. We want her to develop a relationship with shy bookseller Anna (nicely played by Dolly Wells) and despair when she cannot overcome the emotional walls she has built up against everyone except her cat and, gradually, Grant’s Jack Hock. We cheer her on as she defrauds various collectors, some victimized by their own greed, and share her satisfaction when they praise the quality of the forged letters’ writing. By the time we realize how mentally unhealthy McCarthy’s character has become—Jack’s first visit to Lee’s apartment reveals that hygiene is no longer even an afterthought—it is already too late for us to give up on her. There is a great cast of supporting actors, including McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone as a less-than-completely-scrupulous buyer and Saturday Night Live veteran Jane Curtin as Lee’s less-than-completely-supportive agent. Known mainly to date as an actor, Heller previously directed the uncomfortable 2015 coming-of-age film The Diary of a Teenage Girl. This sophomore feature demonstrates clearly she has a voice worth hearing.
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