Starring Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant
Written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
Directed by Marielle Heller
USA 2018
107 mins
Without doubt one of the strangest and most delightful crime movies you will ever see this witty, touching and unlikely caper features the oddest of odd couples and a plot that seems impossible were it not for the fact that is based on the real life story of Lee Israel - a struggling literary biographer who turns to forgery to pay the bills.
Melissa McCarthy is quite brilliant as the curmudgeonly Israel and she finds a perfect foil in Richard E. Grant as her flamboyant partner in crime Jack Hock. The two cut a swathe through the snobbish literary scene of 1990s New York - purveying 'original' letters penned by a host of great writers for handsome sums. They are outsiders who take delicious revenge on the establishment and entertain us royally in the process.
The project was originally conceived for Julianne Moore and Chris O'Dowd but after a creative split it was recast - a stroke which lifted the film into the category of modern classic. The script crackles with wit - managing to be funny and to have real depth - at once a touching portrait of loneliness in the modern city and a hilarious attack on the pretension and nonsense of the world it inhabits.
If you are seeking an intelligent and weirdly uplifting diversion from the isolation of the current situation then look no further...
