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Wicked Little Letters

Wicked Little Letters

2023

Thea Sharrock

Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Timothy Spall ...

6.3

504

Comedy. Mystery. Drama 1920s. In the seaside town of Littlehampton, the devout Edith Swan and other local residents begin to receive scandalous letters written in language as eccentric as it is obscene. Suspicion quickly falls on Rose Gooding, an impetuous neighbor who sees her freedom and the custody of her daughter jeopardized by these accusations. As the letters continue to plague the town, police officer Gladys Moss will put her wits to work to solve the ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Jordan Raup The Film Stage	"This tale moves in the kind of amiable fashion that ensures no laugh is too daring, no emotional beat too deep, no shot anything but pleasantly lit"	NEU
United States	Esther Zuckerman Vanity Fair	"There is a glorious gusto to their very funny performances"	POS
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Whether or not there's a factual basis to the story, it's undeniably an absolute blast"	POS
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"An embarrassingly unfunny misfire (...) It's all rather baffling, given the talent involved. How wicked (...) Rating: ★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Helen O'Hara Time Out	"What is delightful, however, is seeing Colman and Buckley together (...) The two gifted comedic actresses give their characters depth while also finding moments of lightness that stop the drama from ever bringing the pace down too much (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	James Mottram Radio Times	"Despite a patchy script, the first-rate cast including Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley ensure the film is an enjoyable farce (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Nick Schager The Daily Beast	"Were it not for the participation of Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, it would be an insufferable groaner"	NEU
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"In Sharrock’s hands, 'Wicked Little Letters' is an entertaining account of what feels like a primitive form of today’s online flame wars, where people take sides as commenters openly disparage one another"	POS
United States	Jourdain Searles IndieWire	"[It] doesn't have enough bite of its own (...) As the film’s themes announce themselves again and again, it weakens the mystery"	NEG
United States	Robert Daniels rogerebert.com	"If only for its exceptional performers, 'Wicked Little Letters' is at least entertaining, so long as you don't pull too hard at its loose threads"	NEU
United States	Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"[It] is benignly enjoyable (...) it’s a shame we’re so far removed from the heyday of Britain’s Ealing Studios and its oddball comedies like 'Passport to Pimlico', 'Whiskey Galore' and 'The Ladykillers'"	NEU
Canada	Tommy Lethbridge Screen Rant	"Despite strong performances from an A-list cast, the movie fails to live up to its ultimate potential – despite the very funny subject matter (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"A frothy showcase for Colman, Buckley as neighbors at war (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	David Fear Rolling Stone	"[It] is reason No. 347 that Olivia Colman is a national treasure"	POS
United States	Damon Wise Deadline	"The best thing about Sharrock's film is not just Jonny Sweet's deliciously profane script, it's the fun that the cast have with it"	POS
United States	Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter	"'Wicked Little Letters' swerves between comedy and tragedy without ever hitting its stride"	NEG
United Kingdom	Empire	"Repetitive insults do most of the heavy lifting for this comedy, but any time spent with actors as skilled as Colman and Buckley is time enjoyably spent (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Shelagh Rowan-Legg Screen Anarchy	"[It] manages to find more depth and nuance that the average British period comedy"	POS
United States	Ankit Jhunjhunwala The Playlist	"The Oscar-nominated duo gives spirited performances in a diverting little trifle that isn’t especially illuminating but is an undemanding watch"	NEU
United Kingdom	Tom Shone The Sunday Times	"There's nothing like two of the finest actresses of their generation waging war against each other (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Robbie Collin Telegraph	"The dark dynamic between Colman's Edith and her controlling father is a poor fit with the whimsical tone elsewhere (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Ellen E. Jones The New York Observer	"Swearing can be comic, but it might also be the way that a highly pressurised, repressive and patriarchal postwar society lets off a bit of steam (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Nick Howells London Evening Standard	"A cosy, bumbling farce (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Clarisse Loughrey The Independent	"A film that understands perfectly well that Colman and Buckley are all we need to enjoy ourselves (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Kevin Maher The Times	"Swearing quickly settles into the background. A movie needs to offer something else (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG

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