‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’
Melissa McCarthy, who today celebrates her 49th birthday, has been proving herself to be a superb actor since Gilmore Girls, but Can You Ever Forgive Me? solidified her title as one of the greatest actors of our time. Under the thoughtful direction of Marielle Heller (whose Oscar snub I’m still mad about), McCarthy transforms into Lee Israel, the real-life author who was arrested in the early ’90s for forging literary letters “written” by authors like Dorothy Parker. Lee is pretty much the opposite of likable—she’s abrasive, rude, and downright disrespectful toward anyone who isn’t her cat, Jersey—but McCarthy and Heller make you love her anyhow. McCarthy’s on-screen rapport with the delightful Richard E. Grant as Israel’s merry accomplice, Jack Hock, helps too. If you missed this quietly beautiful film in theaters last year, run, don’t walk, to stream it as soon as you can. (It’s coming to HBO this weekend!)