Review of Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) by Robert K — 01 Dec 2018

I haven't enjoyed Melissa McCarthy;s slapstick, crude-to-the-max shtick often. Bridesmaids left me chilled instead of cackling. The Heat, Tammy and Identity Thief were sepulchral stumbles. Ghostbusters -- though it was a hoot to watch the female-led cast kick poltergeists' posteriors -- wasn't an exceptional film.

Her arresting turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me, then, merits every acting accolade available on this planet. As Lee Israel, a struggling, cash-strapped author who peddles fanciful forgery to pay the bills, McCarthy delivers a devastating performance that makes the real-life character she portrays as sympathetic as she is unpalatable.

Marielle Heller's deft direction and spectacular supporting work from Richard E. Grant make this artful entry a winner you shouldn't miss but probably will. McCarthy has filled up plenty of Brinks trucks with profane, low-brow-humor-filled deposits that often wasted her tremendous talent.

Here, she achieves a priceless new career apex. If she doesn't earn a Best Actress nomination for this, it will rank as a greater crime than anything for which Israel pleaded guilty.