Movie · 2018 · Drama, Crime, Comedy · 1h 46m · R · English
Curator score: 7.0/10 (148.7K ratings)
Her greatest work will be her biggest crime.
Overview
When a bestselling celebrity biographer is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.0/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.65/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Metacritic: 87
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Marielle Heller
Production
Archer Gray, TSG Entertainment
Cast
Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Gregory Korostishevsky, Jane Curtin, Stephen Spinella, Christian Navarro, Pun Bandhu, Erik LaRay Harvey, Brandon Scott Jones, Shae D'Lyn, Rosal Colon, Anna Deavere Smith, Marc Evan Jackson, Marcella Lowery, Roberta Wallach, Tina Benko, Sandy Rosenberg, Kevin Carolan
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, melancholy character study with real bite, carried by two superb performances and an unusually humane take on fraud, loneliness, and survival. It’s funny in a dry, bruised way, but the emotional payoff comes from how closely it watches two damaged people finding brief, imperfect companionship.
Best for
performance-driven dramas
dark comedies with a sad streak
New York character studies
stories about grifters, forgery, and literary culture
viewers who like understated emotional depth
Skip if
you want a fast-paced crime plot
you prefer broad comedy
you need a clean moral arc
you dislike low-key, talky dramas
Overview
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a sly, sad little movie about talent curdling into desperation. It follows a once-successful writer who discovers that forging letters can be more lucrative than writing books, and it treats that premise less like a caper than a study in loneliness, bitterness, and self-preservation.
Worth noting
Melissa McCarthy gives one of her best performances, all defensive posture and wounded intelligence, while Richard E. Grant is a perfect counterweight: flamboyant, needy, and unexpectedly tender. Their chemistry keeps the film buoyant even when the story is at its bleakest, and the script has a dry, literate snap that makes every scene feel observed rather than engineered.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the movie’s empathy. It never excuses the fraud, but it understands how humiliation, aging, and professional irrelevance can push someone into ugly choices. The result is a smart, humane dramedy that feels both specific to its era and painfully timeless.
Top Letterboxd reviews
#1 gizmo fan (4.5★) · 1235 likes
Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant give two of the best performances of the year and will go completely unrecognized. And that, my friends, is a greater crime than forgery.
Lucy (4★) · 648 likes
“i don’t think you’re a very nice person, lee”
been hearing nothing but praise about this for months, and yet was still reluctant simply because the trailers for it painted it as so dull and different than what it actually is. this was so thoughtful and sharp, melissa mccarthy and richard e grant have immense chemistry and make it such an enjoyable watch. the best picture and best director snubs are very obvious here, but it seems a little too ahead of it’s time for all that anyway
“i would agree with you”
demi adejuyigbe (3.5★) · 555 likes
there are gonna be like ten moments in this movie where Amy Sherman-Palladino goes "what the fuck did i dream this"
i liked this movie, and i think i only like it more as i keep thinking about it. it's so calm and easy-going, but still very interesting and... i wanna say "pleasant" but that's not the right word. it was a sad story told pleasantly. it's astounding how melissa mccarthy plays the character a lot like she would in… more
issy 🥝 (3★) · 485 likes
do u think she called the kitten.................. new jersey
kyle (4★) · 456 likes
gay and lesbian solidarity.... give them both oscars