Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
90%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 3 Oscars
53 wins & 101 nominations total
Deftly directed and laced with dark wit, Can You Ever Forgive Me? proves a compelling showcase for deeply affecting work from Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a film that proves that sometimes, the best way to achieve greatness is by embracing your inner fraud. Melissa McCarthy shines in a role that should be unappealing, but instead delivers a kind of queer, feminist anti-hero that we haven’t seen before. The plot may be a little woolly at times, but McCarthy’s performance, along with Richard E. Grant’s and a pithy script, brings a sparkle of joy to the dowdy brown New York palette. I’d pay to watch McCarthy stare at a wall – she’d make that a performance. Overall, this film is a bittersweet delight that leaves its audience oddly appreciative of the artistry it took to carry out a fraud.
Production Company(ies)
Aurum Film Canal+ Polska W F S Walter Film Studio,
Distributor
Fox Searchlight
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Julius’s, West 10th Street, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language including some sexual references, and brief drug use
Year of Release
2018
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 46m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 2018 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 5, 2019
Genre(s)
Biography/Lgbtq+
Keyword(s)
starring Melissa McCarthy, Richard E Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Gregory Korostishevsky, Jane Curtin, Anne Carey, Amy Nauiokas, David Yarnell, directed by Marielle Heller, written by Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, biography, LGBTQ+, box office, budget, reviewed by Charlotte O’Sullivan, Mark Kermode, Cath Clarke, Kevin Maher, Deborah Ross, Merryn Johns, Brian Eggert, Lonita Cook, Ben Turner, MPAA rating R, Lee Israel, Jack Hock, Anna, Alan Schmidt, Andrei, Marjorie, Fox Searchlight
Worldwide gross: $12,442,161
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $14,641,609
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,832
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,596,686
US/Canada gross: $8,803,865
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $10,360,157
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,604
US/Canada opening weekend: $161,510
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $190,061
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,680
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $10,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $11,767,738
Production budget ranking: 1,604
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,336,927
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$3,463,056
ROI to date (est.): -19%
ROI ranking: 1,494
Richard E. Grant – Jack Hock
Dolly Wells – Anna
Ben Falcone – Alan Schmidt
Gregory Korostishevsky – Andrei
Jane Curtin – Marjorie
Director(s)
Marielle Heller
Writer(s)
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty
Producer(s)
Anne Carey, Amy Nauiokas, David Yarnell
Film Festivals
Telluride, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 3 Oscars
53 wins & 101 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (321) | Top Critics (76) | Fresh (315) | Rotten (6)
This film takes an altogether different view of the imitation game. By embracing frauds and failures, it achieves greatness on the sly.
February 4, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Charlotte O’Sullivan
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
As for McCarthy, her performance is less of a revelation than a confirmation of her talents.
February 3, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Perfectly cast.
February 2, 2019
Mark Kermode
Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review
TOP CRITIC
Israel is anti-social and aggressive but you do find yourself rooting for her.
February 1, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Cath Clarke
The Big Issue
TOP CRITIC
The revelation of McCarthy’s turn is that she’s just allowed to be, without apology, without schmaltz.
February 1, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
It doesn’t hammer anything home. There is no heavy-handed exposition, no back stories. The characters arrive as is.
January 31, 2019
Deborah Ross
The Spectator
TOP CRITIC
This film is a bittersweet delight and McCarthy shines in a role that should be thoroughly unappealing but isn’t. In fact, she delivers a kind of queer, feminist anti-hero that I have not seen before.
May 20, 2022
Merryn Johns
Curve
Makes for an unlikely story of redemption, one that leaves its audience oddly appreciative of the artistry it took to carry out a fraud.
March 4, 2022 | Rating: 3/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
If you love Melissa McCarthy as a comedienne, you’re still going to love her here.
October 5, 2021
Lonita Cook
KCTV5 News at 9
The plotting is a little woolly at times, but is entirely made up for by McCarthy, Grant and a pithy script the brings a sparkle of joy to this dowdy brown New York palette.
September 1, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Ben Turner
The Pink Lens
I’d pay to watch Melissa McCarthy stare at a wall. She’d make that a performance. Her ability to create emotional momentum out of thin air is second to none.
July 30, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Milana Vujkov
Lola On Film
You’ve never seen two characters like this just get to hang out on a movie screen, and two hours is barely enough… I’m already desperately hoping there are hours of cut footage for the blu-ray to savor
July 6, 2021 | Rating: A
Jason Adams
My New Plaid Pants…
Plot
In the early 1990s, Lee Israel, a biographer with a modicum of writing success, has fallen on hard times largely of her own doing. Her choice of subjects is in general not of interest to today’s book buying public, and she, in her only true friends being her aged cat Jersey and a scotch and soda in not really liking people and people in turn not really liking her, has burned bridges with everyone her agent Marjorie has built for her. She will have to start from the ground up again if she wants a writing career, as, hiding behind her subjects, the book buying public will not buy a “Lee Israel” on the strength of her name in not knowing who she is as a writer or person. This situation has led to her being months behind in rent as she spends whatever little money she has on alcohol and Jersey’s medical needs. In doing research for her latest book on Fanny Brice – with no advance from Marjorie – and selling a cherished personal memento of a handwritten letter from Katharine Hepburn in needing the money, Lee discovers there is a market for such celebrity memorabilia, and in the process decides, with her writing talent, to go into the fraudulent business of creating and selling fake personal documents purportedly by dead celebrities, especially of writers with strong public personas, such as Dorothy Parker and Noël Coward. She ends up befriending a gay past acquaintance from her literary circles, Jack Hock, also having fallen on hard times, Jack, not only becoming her drinking buddy, but her partner in crime. As they are able to get out of their financial holes in this business, Lee may begin to have second thoughts in also befriending Anna, one of the rare bookstore owners who likes Lee for Lee, an unusual position for her. But as the fraud looks like it may catch up specifically to Lee, she, feeling like these fakes are at least stretching her writing muscles, only becomes more resolute in at least the creative pursuit of what she’s doing.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Richard E. Grant’s performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? is described as “deeply affecting” by critics.
Marielle-Heller.jpg
