Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant shine as unlikely partners in crime
In this winning return to her dramatic roots, Melissa McCarthy relinquishes her usual comedic role as the lead in Can You Ever Forgive Me? The film is humbly dramatic and gracefully humorous, even though it’s categorized as a crime-thriller. The story transports audiences into the shoes of a struggling author, attempting to wrestle down the demon of the sophomore slump. McCarthy’s character, Lee Israel, is at first a brisk and irritable mess, reeking of yesterday’s alcohol. Slowly the layers of her privacy are worn away as she reluctantly teams up with Jack Hock, an equally sly and lovingly crusty discard of the literary elite, who is played with theatrical prowess by Richard E. Grant.
The film’s strength is its ability to produce immense warmth from these outcasts, who in many ways have become prey to their own cynicism and self-loathing. Lee is faced with the trying demands of staying relevant in the fast-paced pulp fiction world of Tom Clancy and Nora Ephron, who McCarthy impersonates in one of the film’s many winning comedic moments. Jack struggles in many ways to find his place as an aging gay man in a harsh city. Both find camaraderie in each other’s struggles to succeed, penchant for too much drink, and perhaps, though more subtle, the struggle to find love when one’s attraction leads to the same sex.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? glows with the strength of the two leads, butting heads while also growing a quiet bond in both frustration with their circumstances and their ability to triumph over those circumstances. The film wonderfully draws out our sympathy for the leads by showing us their individual charm and good intentions despite the ultimate moral ambiguity of their actions.
What eventually comes to the surface is not only a gentle reworking of the underdog narrative, but also a relatable anti-hero whose foibles are more human than villainous. Along the way we are treated to a clever critique of the literary world as a whole. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is ultimately a tale of redemption and kinship with compelling three dimensional characters that the world of literary connoisseurship would have us overlook. The film’s strength is its quiet dignity, which is more than enough to iron out any of obvious edges of its narrative arc.
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Feature photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures