Films for Breakfast

There’s something cathartic about being able to let out any negative thoughts you’re having with absolutely no filter, with perhaps a bit of profanity in the mix to get your point across; I can’t tell you how many stressful situations I’ve gotten over just from ranting and shouting into the void. Wicked Little Letters tells a mostly true story from a 1920s English seaside town where two neighbors, deeply religious and conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and a rowdy, free spirited Irish immigrant named Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), get caught up within a scandal. Edith and other fellow residents begin receiving letters full of criticisms and profanities, and Rose is charged with the crime fairly quickly as she’s known for her foul-mouthed language and complicated history with Edith. However, after Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) and a group of local townswomen begin to doubt Rose’s wrongdoing, they begin to investigate who may have actually sent the letters after all.

Wicked Little Letters feels like the perfect type of matinee that I’d typically see in a Spring morning or afternoon. Not necessarily propped to be one of the year’s best films or anything like that, but a perfect platform for a film with the intentions this one does; being a small-scaled comedy with plenty of heart and tons of laughs from beginning to end. The most impressive element about the film is easily the stacked cast it has at hand, as Olivia Colman is a provenly fantastic and Award-Winning performer. Here, she brings so much humanity and empathy to a character that could’ve been so easy to initially dislike. Yet, Colman never does the character disservice by simplifying her actions and beliefs – there’s a reserved sadness and longing underneath the characters’ actions and worst traits that helps you understand her perspective. This is yet another great, perfectly understated performance from her.

The entire supporting cast here is largely impressive, from Timothy Spall as one of the most unlikable characters you’ll experience in a while to Anjana Vasan as Gladys, who feels almost like the glue of the entire picture holding the ensemble together. But the best performance for my money is easily that of Jessie Buckley, who has impressed me so much as I’ve seen her grow into a fantastic performer over the years. The first time I saw Buckley in a film was 2018’s Wild Rose with a heartbreaking and genuine performance, and with her work in films like Men or I’m thinking of ending things both cementing her as a talent to watch out for with an incredible amount of range and charisma, Wicked Little Letters proves that she both has incredible comedic timing as well as all the talent necessary to completely lead a film.

While both Buckley and Colman’s performances are individually fantastic, it’s the chemistry that they develop between one another and how that evolves throughout the course of the film that truly delights and makes the film as entertaining as it is. The film also paves way for the rejection of the letters and Edith’s conservatism to have an underlying message about freedom of speech and expression, as well as equal rights for women at a time when it was frowned upon for them to speak their mind. This element of the film never feels overcooked or too preachy, and only adds to the weight of the story at hand.

If I had to nitpick, it does feel like the film stops itself short of being completely great due to trying to balance a fairly light tone with some raunchy and crude subject matter and material. The marriage of tone and style never completely works, even when both individually work perfectly well. The film feels like it has a ceiling of 7/10, and that feels unfortunate as the subject matter paves way for it to be capable of much more greatness than it sets out for.

While the film won’t necessarily be a player next awards season nor be remembered as one of the years best, I found Wicked Little Letters to be a delightfully amusing romp with fantastic performances all around and a thought provoking message and theme at its very core. While nothing terribly deep on this side of things, I did also really enjoy the mystery element of the film while the characters tried to figure out who could possibly be sending the letters. All of this combined, Wicked Little Letters proves to be a delightful watch from beginning to end. I’ll watch as many comedies with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley as they can possibly make together.

3.5/5