“Yours, Dorothy Parker.”

From Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In 1991, Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) is a long ago best-selling author who has long since run out of inspiration and popularity; now she finds herself months behind on the rent, with a sick cat, no friends or family, an agent (Jane Curtin) that won’t take her calls, and no way to take care of herself. In desperation, she is forced to sell a signed personal letter from more-famous-than-herself author to take care of her cat, so she turns to a local bookseller, Anna, (Dolly Wells) who is eager to find unique and personal letters. Lee is able to lament her current has-been status as an author with fellow has–been author and drunk Jack (Richard E. Grant) who quickly becomes her only friend. While conducting research for a biography that she is interested in writing, Lee finds a letter from another prominent author and decides to sell it to Anna in order to help with her rent. When Anna makes a comment about the value increasing with personality, Lee gets the idea to add interesting notes to personal letters and sell them around New York City for extra cash. This seemingly harmless and very lucrative idea quickly morphs into Lee not only embellishing letters, but writing whole letters and selling them as originals. Things go well for the first time in many years as Lee’s able to pay her bills and take care of all her needs, but the more letters she writes and the more booklovers that she sells to, the deeper she finds herself in a hole surrounded by legal and personal troubles.

Based on the true story, this movie is fascinating to watch; McCarthy disappears behind her character in a more appealing manner than many of her other roles. The comedy has a biting edge to it that is slower, but addictive as the story progresses. The real success of Can You Ever Forgive Me? comes from the brilliant blending of the McCarthy interact with the rest of the cast, the witty script, and the craziness of watching the almost-unbelievable events unfold.

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 7* of 10|Nudity: 1 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 0 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|