This movie is not what I was expecting. I will admit, I didn’t actually know anything about the plot before diving in, but what I thought it was going to be was boring, serious, Oscar fodder.
What it actually brought – and what struck me the most – was charming wit and an interesting subject matter. I suppose I should have expected some humour with it being Melissa McCarthy, but the Academy Awards don’t usually celebrate actresses like her, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Richard E. Grant was also pleasantly gaudy and camp, and he bounced off McCarthy’s Israel like nobody’s business.
The sass of the main protagonist (or antagonist?) is something I have to applaud. She’s such an asshole in the best way that it made me not give a single shit that she was technically a felon. For me, Israel was innovative. Was she really a criminal, or was everyone else just stupid for not checking the letters for authenticity before buying them? Of course, in the eyes of the law, she was most definitely committing a crime, but this movie forced me not to care about that. As a result, this became quite the tale of morality, whether intended or not. Between this and Catch Me If You Can, I’ve decided that forgery movies are some of the most interesting, and there needs to be more of them.
Unfortunately this is a movie that wasn’t properly marketed in the UK, so that probably explains my ignorance regarding it. In fact, the only promotional material I remember seeing upon it’s release was a half-arsed attempt at a poster stuck in the hallway of my local poorly-carpeted cinema. Thankfully, Sky Cinema added it recently on their New Premiere Every Day feature, so more people over here can see it.
Now that I’ve told you where you can see it, what are you waiting for? The real question is: can you ever forgive yourself for not seeing it?
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The Quayside Review 