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Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2018

Marielle Heller

Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Julie Ann Emery, Jane Curtin ...

6.5

5,070

Drama When bestselling celebrity biographer, Lee Israel, is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend, Jack.

	Media	Author	Review
		Stephen Farber The Hollywood Reporter	"A surprisingly rewarding dramedy (...) After a couple of recent misfires, this picture will remind viewers of McCarthy’s undeniable talents"
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Grant (...) is simply sublime. Still, the film belongs to McCarthy, who reveals Lee’s secret heart without resorting to bullshit Hollywood sentiment (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		A. O. Scott The New York Times	"Partly because the movie is so splendidly and completely absorbed in its characters and their milieu, it communicates much more than a quirky appreciation for old books and odd readers."
		Peter Debruge Variety	it’s the human side of the character that makes this McCarthy’s best performance to date, revealing haunting insights into friendship, loneliness, and creative insecurity."
		Sasha Stone The Wrap	"The script serves as an astonishing step forward for Heller, whose work here ought to cement her cred as one of the major up-and-coming female directors (...) [It] should easily land both McCarthy and Grant Oscar nominations."
		Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"McCarthy has rarely shown off her dramatic talents before, but it goes without saying she’s quite good here (...) [Heller] has made a little gem of a movie. And there’s really no other way to describe it.
		Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"[It] demands not our love for this supremely difficult person but rather our respect for her defiance of an unsympathetic world."
		Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Heller's charming, melancholic look at writer Lee Israel's finally helps McCarthy deepen her brand."
		Monica Castillo rogerebert.com	"[It] comes from a place of understanding and love that few other biopics truly dive into, and it makes this difficult character a joy to meet (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Brian Truitt USA Today	"[It] feels worn and lived in -in a good way- with a world of musty vintage tomes and bar-room desperation given emotional life through McCarthy and a super supporting turn from Grant (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Katie Rife AV Club	"Maintaining an audience's sympathy for a character through their most fumbling, frustrating lows requires compassion and clarity of purpose, both of which McCarthy amply demonstrates here."
		Serena Donadoni LA Weekly	"No one does dissolute hubris with as much charm as Grant, and his ebullience is the perfect foil to the misanthropic McCarthy."
		Adam Chitwood Collider	"The script by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty is tender and warm (...) It’s mostly a joy to watch"
		Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"The character of Lee Israel allows for McCarthy’s comic skills to shine through (...) It does work better as a concentrated character study (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

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