ViewGuide

Created Mar 09, 2019 04:09AM PST • Edited May 19, 2019 05:57PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   Can You Ever Forgive Me? is not unforgivably bad, but is hardly a good movie either. The small stakes crimes of a literary criminal and her wages of sin trigger our morbid fascination with human train wrecks.

   Is that so bad? No, but it ain’t enough to be fulfilling. Ultimately just OK, Melissa McCarthy’s dramatic debut works fine as a dour airplane movie. I wasn’t drinking while watching. You might choose otherwise.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Melissa McCarthy makes her dramatic debut as lowlife writer Lee Israel. McCarthy achieved near superstar status as the wacky star of wild comedies. Now she joins the select few comic actors who have proven the ability to play drama and play it well. By way of comparison, Steve Carell in Foxcatcher comes to mind.

   • Richard E. Grant got lots of attention as her partner in crime.
   • Jane Curtin sighting
   • Anna Deavere Smith underwhelms.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    OK 2.5

    Nicole Holofcener is a quality filmmaker who doesn’t always make quality films, Can You Ever Forgive Me? being a case in point. She’s done much better in the past, for instance with these two very good films.

    • Please Give
    • Enough Said

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Barely OK 2.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.7

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Profane 2.6

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.7

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0