User reviews

I wasn't sure what to make of this movie, it's good in parts, it has two very good central performances from Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley but suffers from a really uneven tone.

The tone problems all stem from the direction of the piece. Its great to see such a diverse cast, but that diversity of casting does a historical injustice to Karpal Kaur Sandhu who was the first serving Asian woman in the police, her story is truly heroic and tragic, and ignoring any racial tension in 1920's Britain is also anachronistic and fantastical. Those moments give the work an uneven tone, and the longer the movie goes on the more the direction lurches from a fun tone it something closer to what the movie can be.

The outstanding moments in this film come from Jessie Buckley, who like Maggie Smith in her younger years bursts onto the screen with energy and charisma. Olivia Coleman is always full of nuance and depth - those two central performances carry the movie. Anjana Vasan is charming and full of comic energy she is required to carry a part which has some very odd writing and character development. She does it like a star.

A very odd movie in some ways but worth you time if you can get over the anachronisms and the uneven tone.

Wicked Little Letters is an incredibly funny, cheeky, and punchy film that will be sure to put a smile on your face.

It follows a series of bizarre events as the pious and reserved Edith receives a string of crude letters, supposedly from her boisterous neighbour Rose. It's one of those delightful British films that brings to a light a surprisingly true story and packs it full of brilliant British talent.

The story is great fun. As mentioned it's cheeky and lewd but this isn't the only string to its bow. There are some brilliantly fleshed out and interesting lead characters as well as a great collection of supporting characters, which gives it a great blend of comedy and drama.

Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman as the two leads are both brilliant as expected. They each bring a different style of comedy to their characters, elevating the witty dialogue superbly. They are just such great fun to watch.

Overall this film is just an absolute hoot. It's fun and quirky and boisterous and just a really good time.

Very good, this!

'Wicked Little Letters' is fun. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley impress in lead roles, both managing to stand out just as much as the other - Colman is particularly perfectly cast. The rest of them merit praise as well, namely Anjana Vasan and Timothy Spall.

There isn't much more to note about this really and I don't mean that in a negative way whatsoever. It's all competently put together, as those onscreen bring this rather simple film to life - and I like those type of movies. Well worth a watch! Happy that I managed to catch it at the cinema on the big screen, always nice.

Simple and entertaining with a good ensemble cast. There are a few laughs to be had although quite a lot of the funny parts were in the trailer. Olivia Colman is always a delight to watch with Jessie Buckley stealing the show with some excellent acting as the unpredictable, foul mouthed Rose. Timothy Small plays a character so hideous it is hard to watch at times. It's a story about female empowerment and it still frustrates me that women were treated like this only in the last century. The scenes with the gang of women clubbing together to help Rose were a highlight. Wicked Little Letters reminded me in tone of The Banshees of Inisherin albeit with a much more positive narrative.

This British comedy is, rather like the content of the letters on which the plot is based, somewhat crude and unsubtle. The characters are largely stereotypes - the prim, god-fearing Edith, the foul-mouthed slatternly Irishwoman Rose, the misogynistic buffoons (pretty much all the male characters). Timothy Spall plays a nasty bully, and this, along with the early friendship between Edith and Rose, which breaks down, mainly due to his influence, suggests there is a potential for a stronger story here - if the film had been brave enough to escape the rather one-joke plotline approach. The use of black and Asian actors to portray characters in roles where this would not have been historically accurate has now become almost obligatory, but is still a bit of an irritating anachronism. Overall, the film does have its moments, but does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity.

I don't know why people gave this movie bad reviews. Yes it's probably not historically correct, it's based on true events but anything for the most part that's re-created from true events or dramatized. Even If this was pure fiction, it would Stand alone as a fantastic movie! I absolutely love Jesse Buckley and I think the script was hilarious. It was a tough time in the 20s for women and that they definitely got accurate in the story. The characters are all really complex in their own way, and the acting was superb. Currently playing on Netflix but if you miss it there, it's a pretty cheap rental, but worth every minute!

'Wicked Little Letters' is hysterically funny and unique. It takes a somewhat humorous true story and adds some great social commentary.

The narrative and themes within this are incredibly strong. By exploring how female behaviour was strictly controlled in a patriarchal and religious setting, the film emphasises the absurdity and hypocrisy in how 1920s women were treated. Jessie Buckley, Olivia Coleman, and Anjana Vasan make for an excellent leading trio!

Although, the cinematography and editing needed to be more adventurous. It could have visually reflected the personality of each of the main trio, such as having Buckley's character scenes having more unconventional visuals. This is only a slight criticism though. Please check this one out if you are not adversed to swearing!

Greetings again from the darkness. "This is more true than you'd think." Director Thea Sharrock (ME BEFORE YOU, 2016) kicks off the film with this statement. The movie then proceeds to twist and stretch and outright change many of the details from the actual story and case outlined in the 2017 book, "The Littlehampton Libels: A Miscarriage of Justice and a Mystery about Words in 1920's England" by Christopher Hilliard. However, from an entertainment perspective, the script from Jonny Sweet combined with the stellar British cast works pretty well as a glimpse of that era's patriarchal society, as well as the need for attention from someone who has been stifled for far too long. And it even includes a few laughs along the way.

As Edith Swan (Oscar winner Olivia Colman) and her elder parents Edward (Timothy Spall) and Victoria (Gemma Jones) gather around the table to read the anonymous profanity-laced letter, we learn it's the 19th one received by Edith. The decision is made to contact Constable Papperwick (Hugh Skinner, FALLING FOR FIGARO), who is quick to accept as fact their presumption that the letters' source is neighbor Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). See, the Swan's are a God-fearing family (and quick to advertise the fact), while Rose is an Irish immigrant and single mom with a loud mouth ... one often filled with colorful curse words. It's little wonder holier-than-thou Edith's accusations are believed while denials from rough-around-the-edges Rose are dismissed.

"Female" Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan, CYRANO, 2021) is the only one who notices the massive inconsistencies in the "evidence", and sets out to investigate. This, of course, goes against the wishes of the police captain, and overall dismissal from fellow officers since she is such an oddity as a female officer. Moss is following in her father's footsteps with the badge, and has more instinct and powers of observation than the others ... especially Papperwick, who is clueless and arrogant.

As Edith finds pleasure in the notoriety, Moss enlists help from a couple of community ladies who don't buy into the Swan's pious attitude. The film's best line is, "Congratulations on your tragedy." These women, played beautifully by Joanna Scanlan (AFTER LOVE, 2020) and Eileen Atkins ("Doc Martin") devise a strategy to catch the true culprit in the act. Of course, most if not all viewers will have solved the case long before the police or jury do, but that won't lessen the enjoyment of watching the drama play out, sometimes with a dash of humor.

The 1923 Poison Pen scandal of Littlehampton was a real thing, with court case and all. The film makes a point of the Patriarchal society in place at the time (the onset of the Suffragette movement), and it helps us gain an understanding of Edith and Officer Moss, as well as the quick-to-judge folks so easily accepting Rose's guilt. I probably enjoyed this a bit more than many since I'm a big fan of both Colman and Buckley, who also co-starred together in THE LOST DAUGHTER. Timothy Spall reminds us that few can chew scenery like he, and the other familiar English actors all do their part. Those creative and sometimes confusing epithets (more likely to result in chuckles than anger) were taken from the actual letters in the case, and Ms. Colman's cackle at the end is itself worthy of a ticket price.

The film opens in theaters on April 5, 2024.

...it does. A mystery without a mystery, this is the 2024 version of a minor scandal from a hundred years ago, now distorted, minced, chewed, and regurgitated into a palatable porridge for today's audience.

Even before watching the movie, just by reading the synopsis, you can guess what's going on: spunky, non-conformist, Irish single mother? Good person! Middle-aged repressed spinster, who has issues with the Irish heroine? Bad!!!!

From there, the plot develops into a silly parody of reality, where swearing is supposed to be funny-if you're a child, or maybe not even then since there's such a constant flux of swearing in the media that it's exceptional when no F- or C- words are flying around.

Not even worth mentioning the anachronistic ethnically correct cast, which would have been absurd at the time. But hey, the audience is more than happy to go along with cancel culture and pretend this is "just a comedy, good for a laugh." So why not make it a Sci-Fi comedy instead of setting it in a very specific historical period and telling lies about it?

This "based on a true story" film is set in early 20th Century England. But in their infinite wisdom, the filmmakers decided to impose early 21st Century mores with casting that is as out of place for 20th Century England as if Mr. Spock were there. This varies between distracting & annoying, but by any measure detracts from what we're seeing onscreen.

On the plus side, Jessie Buckley's performance is the show - really a lot of fun seeing her chew the scenery. Olivia Colman is good too as the repressed Edith, but it's generally a far less flashy role.

And, for the most part, the events of the movie are true, with minimal screenwriter embellishment.

Okay, so it sounds as though Thea Sharrock's "Wicked Little Letters" took a lot of creative liberties, but you gotta love the overall story, with a town in 1920 England suddenly filled with obscene letters and blaming an abrasive Irish immigrant.

The movie at once both addresses distrust of the "other" (especially considering how the English viewed the Irish) and people's tendency to dumb down their language to sound "appropriate". One scene in particular seems to say "well that felt good". I wouldn't call it a masterpiece - especially when you read about the inaccuracies - but it's got some funny stuff. I suspect that deep down, a lot of Christians wish that they could spout all the profanities they want.

In addition to stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, it also has Anjana Vasan (from last year's season finale of "Black Mirror"), Timothy Spall (Wormtail in the Harry Potter movies) and Alisha Weir (the title character in the recent "Abigail").

This was fun and well-acted, though the stupidity of the police was rather overdone. The only problem was the colour-blind casting. If a story is set in modern times that's merely irritating, but when it's set in a small town in Sussex in 1920 it's just ridiculous. I doubt if the real Rose had a black lover, but she's shown as a character who doesn't give a stuff about the prejudices of the time, so it's just about convincing (except of course, that even Edith's ghastly dad doesn't comment on the relationship: nobody says anything racist.) However we also got a black judge and an Asian actress playing a policewoman called Gladys Moss. No disrespect to those actors, both good, but this was a classic case of wokeness destroying period credibility. "Bridgerton" has a lot to answer for.

I loved this movie. The battle between what a proper lady is during this time period versus a woman's right to live how she wants and the freedom to do as she pleases. In a war between misogyny, a woman's place, & being able to find your own voice. The cast was wonderful & Coleman as always wonderful to watch. It's more than just nasty letters sent in the post. It's about women finding themselves in a place & time period that would prefer them to be quiet, obedient, & chaste. Leaving everything to the men, yet they push against it. Many laughs to be had & a I got a great laugh in the last two minutes of this film! It's what he deserves! Would recommend 10/10.

Beautifully written script. Laugh out loud moments, wrapped in feeling and emotion. This film speaks to buttoned up and repressed emotions and feelings within the British psyche of 1920's Britain, and if reports of walk-outs from disgruntled viewers are anything to go by, the same emotional constipation is alive and kicking over 100 years later.

It reveals the dangers of psychological projection in an endearing, gentle way. It reminded me of learning to swear with my mates as a kid and the laughs we used have as we invented strings of expletives. It was how we began to express ourselves and outgrow childhood, and how we learnt to reign ourselves in again.

There's much talk of the film as allegory to the current wave of online trolling, but I find it closer to a direct confrontation to those people who still believe in emotional repression.

The cast is a superb. Olivia Colman displays the feelings of Edith gradually, like a pot of water slowing boiling. Jessie Buckley is fiery, loving, sassy and outrageous. Timothy Spall depicts the effects of pent up anger with chilling effect, and Anjana Vasan is adorably polite and sassy as a Woman Police Officer.

If you are offended by swearing and bad language, then you MUST watch this film, for your, and everyone else's own good!

Loved it.

The quiet, idyllic village of Littlehampton is rocked to its sensitive core, when scandalous, anonymous letters full of obscenities start circulating. The main target of the abuse is Edith, suspected is her rowdy next door neighbour, Rose.

It's great fun, but definitely something of an oddity, very hard to classify exactly what type of film this is, a scandalous, titillating black comedy is the best suggestion I can offer.

It certainly kept my attention from start to finish, favourite scene had to be Edith's outburst towards her father, terrific.

Wonderful to think that it's inspired by real life events, makes it all the more shocking, imagine if she'd had a phone.

Olivia Colman, what can you say, she is superb as Edith, so gloriously prim and proper, with something of a scandal loving undertone. Colman is equally matched by the wonderful Jessie Buckley, she was outstanding.

9/10.

Wicked little letters

From the outset you thought this little movie with the brilliant cast and clever script would deliver in spades, however the whole film was a very patchy experience.

What was good? The cinematography was brilliant. The music was brilliant. The acting was a masterclass in nuanced micro-gestures. The characters were brilliantly drawn.

Literally everything else was bad, the script railed against the supposed patriarchy of the early 20th century. All men were portrayed as idiots or some sort of longstanding joke and had a uniformity of superficial characterisation. Where as all the women were expertly drawn stereotypical types, the mouse, the practical, the religious, the sensible, the professional. We then had a comprehensive rewriting of history much in the way Bridgerton or Queen Charlotte was undertaken, with inclusivity boxes being ticked all over the place, this was a colossal distortion of the past and very very difficult for most viewers to make sense of this movie within its context.

To my mind the most heinous crime was the lack of emotional intelligence if this movie was trying to argue the case of pre-eminance from a woman's perspective why would it then allow the main protagonist to choose a woman as her victim? This was nonsensical? It really was a psychological miss with little explanation as to the drivers and impetus for the action.

I enjoyed the acting. I enjoyed the setting but everything else I loathed with a vengeance at best this is a 6 out of 10, it was okay but I don't recommend anyone going to see this movie.

As "Wicked Little Fingers" (2023 release from the UK; 100 min.) opens, the opening screen reminds us that "This is more true than you think". We are then introduced to Edith, who lives in a seaside town in southern England, and Edith is opening "the 19th letter", another letter full of insults and profanities, much to the disgust of Edith and her elderly parents, Edith's dad decides to file a complaint at the local police office... At this point, we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.

M Couple of comments: this is the latest from British director Thea Sharrock ("Me Before You"). Here she brings the novel of the dame name to the screen. The true story, set in the early 20th century, is very England-centric, both is style and substance. The story is plot-heavy so the less said about that, the better. The movie benefits significantly from the strong lead performances: Olivia Colman (as Edith) and Jesse Buckley (as Rose), but let's also mention Anjana Vasan, playing a female cop back in the days when that was quite uncommon (and suffering accordingly from sexism and racism).

"Wicked Little Letters" premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim. It currently is rated 80% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie played in US theaters in the Spring, and it started streaming on Netflix just this weekend, where I caught it. If you are in the movie for a refreshing and vibrant little film from early 20th century England or you are simply a fan of Olivia Colman, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I imagine this film was a lot of fun to write, the letters in particular. I also imagine it was a lot of fun to act in. The film is so distinctly British. The Americans could never make a film like this. That's no knock on the Americans, it's just simply something that wouldn't work or be charming in their culture.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley are both fantastic here. Buckley brings the energy to the movie and Colman brings the subtle hilarity, "...on a Wednesday." Her facial acting throughout the movie is mesmerising. She's fascinating to watch and her reactions are both natural, and hilarious at the same time. This was a good one. 7/10.

A charming, if a slightly exploding booted acted story of a women's almost writing Tourettes need to burst the imagined tight laced up behaviour of Suffragette protesting England. Beautifully shot, strangely plotted story about a manifestly deranged women sending profanity laden letters to local village people but the blame pinned on an innocent 'lust for life' Irish woman with a daughter who wants to play guitar? Who knew it was frowned upon in Victorian England despite years of guitar playing women in bygone times? So an attempt to tell an eccentric English story which may have benefitted from the 'verve' that Ealing comedy's injected into stories, looked to me like a good match, but that's just me.

Great performances all round from the principles, shout out to Eileen Atkins who I worked with because this utter amazing actor seems to be missing from other reviews.

So an English Victorian comedy of manners, a charming if slight production, superficially busy telling us all something we already know. The audience I was with, mainly beyond 60 year olds, appreciative more toward the end. Not entirely sure it will make the cannon of truly great insightful British films but I'm sure they all had a great time hanging out with each other and making it.

The film "Wicked Little Letters" revolves around a group of residents who repeatedly receive hateful and mocking messages, leading the attention to an Irish immigrant.

To be honest, the movie tricked me as I was expecting it to be one of those nice, light-hearted films, but it surprised me with its dramatic weight.

The performances by Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman were incredibly harmonious. The investigative atmosphere, the character of the police officer, and the content of the letters, along with the reactions of the people, are a quintessentially British and endearing style. The soundtrack was fantastic, especially how it dominates the scene and when it fades away.

I recommend watching it for fans of dark comedies and dramas without complications.

Typical of the kind of film a certain section of the British public appear to like. Boring little stories played out in costumes. An Irish woman shacked up with a black man would not have happened, neither would an Asian police woman or a black judge. I can fully appreciate choosing actors on their ability, so will it be alright if Daniel Day-Lewis plays Martin Luther King? It looks clunky and is unrealistic. But OK moving on to performances. Olivia Coleman was playing a kind of character she has played before so not really a stretch for her. Jessie Buckley was fine playing the person involved as Irish which she apparently wasn't so I don't know why they found that necessary. The story is just a non-event though. What possessed anyone to think this would make a good film? Was it just that they thought they could get Olivia Coleman involved? Overall it was as entertaining as paint drying.

Having spent my formative years in Littlehampton, I knew this story & was excited to see the film. I was puzzled by the locations - of course I realise that not all of Littlehampton would be suitable for filming these days but it was very odd for me to see Tim Spall leave the beach & run to Arundel to report the letters to the police, just over 4 miles away. Western Road & other locations were not in Littlehampton either. I wasn't keen on the constant swearing - too much, too often relied on for the "comedy". The diversity - essential these days for all modern films, just jarred. Having said that, my husband & I agreed that probably Armando Iannuci (after his very successful David Copperfield) would have probably made a better film.