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Can You Ever Forgive Me?

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Can You Ever Forgive Me?

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• Comedy
• Documentary

• 2018
• Marielle Heller
• 101 mins
• 15

Summary

Comedy drama based on a true story, starring Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant. In the early 1990s, writer Lee Israel is struggling to make ends meet as she contends with low sales and rejected pitches. When she sells on a personal letter from Katharine Hepburn, she realises she can put her wit and writing skills to a lucrative new use: forging and selling letters from famous historical figures.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Karen Krizanovich

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant make a terrific odd couple in the true story of Lee Israel, an acclaimed biographer fallen on hard times in 1990s New York. This dramatic dark comedy takes its title from Dorothy Parker and pivots on McCarthy's curmudgeonly Israel, an unapologetic performance that rarely includes a smile: Lee's not nice and wants no friends outside of her sickly cat. But hardship forces the former celebrity author to plagiarism, forging letters by famous people via selected vintage typewriters and her own indelible wit. To sell her fake missives, she enlists fellow barfly Jack Hock (Grant), whose cheesy grin and stiff-upper-lip provides a humane foil to Israel's hilariously durable misanthropy and growing desperation. Director Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) tells a believable and memorable story that's the opposite of candy-coloured, making no false claims about humanity nor twists to a happy ending. Instead, the film revels in the wonder of the extraordinary life of Israel, an exceptional writer whose incredible wit, intelligence and stubbornness were her strength and her downfall. Exquisite supporting performances, most notably by Dolly Wells and Jane Curtin, along with excellent production design make this a slam-dunk for the literary-minded.

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7.1/10

How to watch

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Streaming

• Disney+
• Sky Store

Credits

Cast

rolenameLee IsraelMelissa McCarthyJack HockRichard E GrantAnnaDolly WellsMarjorieJane CurtinLloydMarc Evan JacksonAlan SchmidtBen FalconeElaineAnna Deavere Smith

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Crew

rolenameDirectorMarielle Heller

Details

Theatrical distributor

20th Century Fox

Released on

2019-02-01

Languages

English

Guidance

Swearing, drug abuse

Available on

DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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