REVIEW in HAIKU:
Surprise! McMarthy
Can act without slapstick or
hijinx. She’s got chops.
Review:
Melissa McCarthy surprised me. She brings layers of grief, sensitivity, and longing to the character of Lee Israel. Lee is a writer with too much responsibility and very little hope until she finds she has a talent for forgery – writing “lost letters” in the voices of famous authors. Her comrade is the equally down and out, but is somehow able, perhaps by example to bring her out by showing just how low you can go in desperation.
It’s another sad tale with disagreeable characters written with gruff realism by Nicole Holofcener who somehow always manages to write dispicable people who remind us of ourselves, making this another odd cocktail of a tale: one of sorrow AND human resilience.
These SNL favs and friends know how to get a laugh. They are made to entertain. They laugh at themselves first, and it works. These funny women of New York have taken Hollywood by storm and come back to town with bigger names and top billing. They’ve earned it. Chris Hemsworth also runs havoc as the team’s dimwitted receptionist and top poltergeist target.
Splatter: on FILM 