Can You Ever Forgive Me (2018) ***

I had been looking forward to seeing this ever since I saw the trailer. The concept seemed delicious: A struggling writer discovers she can make money by forging colorful celebrity letters. And it's based on a true story! Turns out the movie is decent entertainment that doesn't quite live up to its concept.

Melissa McCarthy plays Lee Israel, a writer with some successful biographies under her belt. Unfortunately, when writing biographies, a successful book doesn't make you rich. Lee ekes out a living in a low-paying proof-reading job, which she loses for the same reason she has failed to break through in the publishing world: she is a misanthropic asshole. Her caustic wit is more caustic than witty, and people aren't willing to put up with that behavior from anyone who isn't rich and powerful. Desperate for cash, Lee stumbles upon a letter written by Fanny Bryce. She figures it's worth big bucks, but the bookseller she takes it to says it simply isn't interesting enough to sell for much. Lee decides she can improve on it, so she forges a pithy P.S. and the letter sells for enough to pay her rent. Lee's entrepreneurial spirit kicks in, and soon she has a collection of old typewriters, with which she forges colorful letters from a variety of dead celebs. The money flows in, but Lee gets addicted as much to the creativity as to the cash.

“Can You Ever Forgive Me” is based on Lee Israel's memoir of the same name, and to her credit, she whitewashes neither her toxic personality nor her crimes . She ultimately forged and sold over 400 letters, at least one of which found its way into a biography of the supposed author. She committed what is probably the literary crime of the century.

This is a case where a little artistic license might have been welcome. The film is funny at times and certainly fascinating, but it might have been a bit more fun to watch if they hadn't made Lee and her life so depressing. I think Melissa McCarthy does the best she can with the role, but Lee comes across as a drab person in drab clothes living in a drab apartment in, honestly, a drab version of New York City. Considering the outrageousness of the fraud Lee perpetrated, I feel like the filmmakers could have done better. Maybe they could have shared more of the apparently hilarious letters with us and focused less on Lee's cat. Still it's an interesting story and well-acted, including a terrific turn by Richard E. Grant as Lee's alcoholic, incorrigible confidant. As for the film's failings, I suppose we can forgive them.

3 stars out of 5