Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Q&A with Melissa McCarthy

Down-and-out celebrity biographer and cantankerous New Yorker Lee Israel (expertly played by Melissa McCarthy) is broke. When her beloved cat becomes ill and she can't pay the medical bills, she turns to forging and selling letters by literary luminaries and finds she's quite good at it—as Lee puts it, she's a better Dorothy Parker than Dorothy Parker. Her drunken camaraderie with her lone friend Jack Hock (an absolutely charming Richard E. Grant) is the beating heart of this quietly queer film. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight.

A discussion with actor Melissa McCarthy follows the screening. Moderated by writer Roxane Gay.

 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? 2018. USA. Directed by Marielle Heller. 106 min.

Location: Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum
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MoMA Contenders 2018 is organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. This film program is organized by Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and Sean Egan, Senior Producer, Film Exhibitions and Projects, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The Hammer Museum’s presentation is made possible by The Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.

Media sponsorship is provided by The Hollywood Reporter.