Written by Tom Moore
To say that I’m not the biggest Melissa McCarthy fan is an understatement. I think her career has been slowly declining since her Oscar nomination for Bridesmaids back in 2012. And honestly, even looking through 2018, McCarthy has made some of lowest points of the year with her puppet-noir film, The Happytime Murders and the Mother’s Day mess-up that was Life of the Party. Now, even with all of this in mind, I think I can confidently say that we have found the light at the end of the tunnel as McCarthy’s new film, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is not just excellent on its own, but McCarthy is truly the best part about it.
Based on a true story and a book of the same name, the film follows McCarthy’s Lee Israel, a crass and alcoholic author who begins to forge letters from prominent authors to make money. This concept immediately made me think of a Spielberg classic and one of my favorite films, Catch Me if You Can, and had its hooks in me from the get-go. This was all mostly due to the performances given from both McCarthy and Richard E. Grant.
I’ve never seen McCarthy blend so well into a role and she takes on Israel’s crude and introverted personality with incredible grace. The usual slapstick and comedy skit-style humor is traded away for some more dark and witty lines that will have audiences snickering. Grant, who plays Israel’s “friend” John Hawke, also delivers some excellent lines that really shape his character’s eccentric personality. The two can come off as unlikable at first glance, but with jokes and witty comebacks, audiences will find them to be undeniably charming.
The two also reached an emotional level that I didn’t expect going in. It’s actually hard not to find yourself feeling incredibly emotional for Israel and Hawke as their struggles feel very relatable. The world has cast them out, not just for being a little crude or for not being heterosexual, but for not desiring to play the social game of writing and it resonated with me on a deep level. It doesn’t take away from the fact that what Israel did was wrong and completely immoral, but it also didn’t take away from how much I still cared for her well-being.
McCarthy and Grant definitely owe their success to the film’s writers Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty. While only struggling to introduce a few minor characters from time to time, the writing is near perfection from start to finish and leads up to an ending that perfectly encompasses everything Israel is feeling. Not to mention, Marielle Heller’s direction is excellent and she uses each setting perfectly to showcase Israel’s growing obsession with forging as well as her introverted personality.
So, I think the only for me to appropriately end this review is by answering the film’s titular question by saying; I forgive you, Melissa McCarthy. I forgive you for making me sit through scenes of you having a dance battle at a frat party and spurting jokes that made me groan way more than laugh. I even forgive you for making me watch you make sexual jokes to puppets for way too long. If it was all leading to the excellent performance you gave in this excellent film, then I guess it was all worth it.
Well played McCarthy. Well played.
P.S. Hopefully when awards season comes around, the Academy will forgive you too.
Rating: 10 out of 10
