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IMDbPro

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

  • 20182018
  • RR
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
53K
YOUR RATING
Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
When bestselling celebrity biographer Lee Israel is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend, Jack.
Play trailer2:35
9 Videos
99+ Photos
BiographyComedyCrime
When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
53K
YOUR RATING
    • Marielle Heller
    • Nicole Holofcener(screenplay by)
    • Jeff Whitty(screenplay by)
  • Stars
    • Melissa McCarthy
    • Richard E. Grant
    • Dolly Wells
    • Marielle Heller
    • Nicole Holofcener(screenplay by)
    • Jeff Whitty(screenplay by)
  • Stars
    • Melissa McCarthy
    • Richard E. Grant
    • Dolly Wells
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 264User reviews
    • 248Critic reviews
    • 87Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 Oscars

    Videos9

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:35
    Watch Official Trailer
    Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Trailer 2:38
    Watch Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Oscar Buzz for 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'
    Clip 3:46
    Watch Oscar Buzz for 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'
    5 Favorites From 2019 Oscars
    Clip 2:45
    Watch 5 Favorites From 2019 Oscars
    Bacon Strips, Trampoline Jumps Started Richard E. Grant's Oscar Day
    Interview 0:55
    Watch Bacon Strips, Trampoline Jumps Started Richard E. Grant's Oscar Day
    Richard E. Grant Found "Lightning in a Bottle"
    Interview 1:07
    Watch Richard E. Grant Found "Lightning in a Bottle"
    Richard E. Grant Found Lightning in a Bottle With Melissa McCarthy
    Video 3:39
    Watch Richard E. Grant Found Lightning in a Bottle With Melissa McCarthy
    Melissa McCarthy Loves Playing Shifty Characters
    Video 3:16
    Watch Melissa McCarthy Loves Playing Shifty Characters
    5 TIFF Films That Could Be Oscar Contenders
    Video 3:27
    Watch 5 TIFF Films That Could Be Oscar Contenders

    Photos232

    Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Melissa McCarthy and Dolly Wells in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Jane Curtin and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Melissa McCarthy, Dolly Wells, and Marielle Heller in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Melissa McCarthy and Marielle Heller in Women Directors on Set (2020)
    Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy at an event for Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, and Christian Navarro at an event for Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
    Melissa McCarthy at an event for Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Melissa McCarthy
    Melissa McCarthy
    • Lee Israel
    Richard E. Grant
    Richard E. Grant
    • Jack Hock
    Dolly Wells
    Dolly Wells
    • Anna
    Ben Falcone
    Ben Falcone
    • Alan Schmidt
    Gregory Korostishevsky
    Gregory Korostishevsky
    • Andre
    Jane Curtin
    Jane Curtin
    • Marjorie
    Stephen Spinella
    Stephen Spinella
    • Paul
    Christian Navarro
    Christian Navarro
    • Kurt
    Pun Bandhu
    Pun Bandhu
    • Agent Doyle
    Erik LaRay Harvey
    Erik LaRay Harvey
    • Agent Solanas
    Brandon Scott Jones
    Brandon Scott Jones
    • Glen
    Shae D'lyn
    Shae D'lyn
    • Nell
    Rosal Colon
    Rosal Colon
    • Rachel
    • (as Rosal Colón)
    Anna Deavere Smith
    Anna Deavere Smith
    • Elaine
    Marc Evan Jackson
    Marc Evan Jackson
    • Lloyd
    Marcella Lowery
    Marcella Lowery
    • Guest at Party
    Roberta Wallach
    Roberta Wallach
    • Tom Clancy Groupie
    Tina Benko
    Tina Benko
    • Karen
      • Marielle Heller
      • Nicole Holofcener(screenplay by)
      • Jeff Whitty(screenplay by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      A pile of Lee Israel books ("Beyond the Magic", an unauthorized biography of Estée Lauder) are shown on sale at a bookstore for 75% off. Lauder was publishing her own memoirs and initially tried to pay Israel *not* to write her book, but she refused and rushed her book to publication. The autobiography was released in October 1985 and Israel's biography one month later. The book buying public chose to buy the Lauder autobiography rather than the Israel biography. Lee Israel later said she regretted not taking the money when it was first offered.
    • Goofs
      A couple of times we see the characters sitting in a bar, while a snowstorm is obviously occurring outside, but when they walk outside, there isn't any snow on the ground at all.
    • Quotes

      Marjorie: You can be an asshole if you're famous. You can't be unknown and be such a bitch, Lee.

    • Crazy credits
      As the closing credits start, they move to the left side of the screen and information about the protagonists appears on the right.
    • Alternate versions
      Ahead of the film's release in Australia, the distributor chose to pre-cut the film in order to obtain an M classification. These changes removed detail of hard drug misuse (cocaine snorting) through re-framing, and also removed the film's sole use of very strong language by re-dubbing the term with a milder phrase. The uncut international version was later approved for a DVD/Video release with an uncut MA15+ classification.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Eddie Redmayne/Jude Law/Melissa McCarthy/Emma Stone/Rick Astley (2018)
    • Soundtracks
      I Thought Of You Last Night
      Written by Ralph Freed

      Performed by Jeri Southern

      Courtesy of Geffen Records

      Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

    User reviews264

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Want to buy some illusions?
    The celebrity biographer Lee Israel was in her own way an expert spinner of "alternative facts" and "fake news" decades before both became commonplace in the digital age. Plenty of people who should have known better were willing to accept these "facts" and spread this "news."

    Melissa McCarthy reaches an artistic career peak with her performance as the late writer who had been one of the top names in her field in the 70s and early 80s before cultural evolution (or devolution, depending on how you look at it) combined with her own abrasiveness and alcoholism led publishers to shun her work. McCarthy adapts her familiar techniques perfectly to this particular character.

    With bills mounting, and facing loss of prestige and income, she began drinking heavily and sinking into a deep, almost psychotic, depression when, half by chance, she discovered that a lot of money could be made by selling letters from famous people like Katharine Hepburn and Fanny Brice. The juicier the content, the more cash they commanded. A talented and witty writer herself, she was familiar enough with the style of the such figures as Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker to forge imitations that convinced professional collectors of their authenticity. Quotes from some of her fakes even ended up in respectable publications. Eventually she resorted to doctoring correspondence which she stole from libraries and selling the results for high prices to sometimes shady dealers. Here was someone who loved and respected outstanding writers and their works but was driven by circumstance to, in effect, falsifying their legacies.

    Some of the little touches that deepen our understanding of her character include a scene where she is watching the 1941 film version of "The Little Foxes" and starts delivering the dialogue along with the actors and even accurately imitating Bette Davis's distinctive giggle. Much of the time she is swilling scotch and her ever-so-slightly slurred speech reflects this half-inebriated state.

    The movie is shot in New York, making use of locations that still look much as they did more than a quarter of a century ago, when the classic New York of the early-to-mid 20th century, an environment conducive to Israel's own earlier success, had mostly faded out. Julius, the bar where a few key scenes are set, existed then and still exists now. (A conversation therein about her illegal shenanigans is softly underscored by Marlene Dietrich's recording of "Illusions," Dietrich being the subject of one of Israel's Noel Coward forgeries.)

    Most of the interiors (book stores, archives, Israel's funky apartment, her agent's more elegant and expansive one) are genuine.

    McCarthy is strongly supported by Richard E. Grant in a showy, colorful performance as a fellow alcoholic and partner in crime, Stephen Spinella as a kind but increasingly suspicious rare book dealer, Brandon Scott Jones as a fussy book store clerk who, to his regret, rubs Israel the wrong way, Jane Curtin as her no-nonsense literary agent, Anna Deveare Smith as an old friend and numerous others.

    "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", based on and named after Israel's slender autobiographical recap of this period, is a highly intelligent and detailed rendering of a complex human being, by turns endearing and repulsive, brilliant and stupid.
    helpful•139
    34
    • mukava991
    • Oct 21, 2018

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 2, 2018 (South Africa)
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Julius's, West 10th Street, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Archer Gray
      • Bob Industries
      • Searchlight Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 46 minutes
      • Color

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