‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ sees Melissa McCarthy give a career-saving performance as biographer Lee Israel.

After ‘Life of the Party’ and ‘The Happytime Murders’, McCarthy’s characters were becoming boring, mostly due to being typecast with repetitive humour. However, her appearance here as forger Lee Israel leaves her in the running for multiple awards at this year’s ceremonies.

Israel is as impressive a character as her appearance in 2011’s Bridesmaids, when she won her audience’s hearts for the first time. Now, she’s lovable all over again.

Based on a true story, ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ tells of Lee Israel’s failure to provide work worthy of publishing, and her struggle to maintain herself, let alone pay vet bills for her cat Jersey.

Lee scams booksellers by forging letters from literary icons to make ends meet, along with help from Richard E. Grant’s Jack Hock. Lee finds comfort in Hock despite being the most anti-people person you’ll see on screen. You’ll struggle to find a character in the film that Lee doesn’t swear at.

Grant, deservedly earning his first Oscar nomination for his performance, plays against McCarthy with wit and charm as a happily confident, gay New Yorker, helping Lee to understand friendship, whilst taking over her dodgy dealings when her usual buyers become wary of her memorabilia.

Both characters are out of place – from Lee’s first appearance at a house party where she steals a coat to keep her warm, to Jack’s outgoing character in a meek bar where he appears to be the only sign of life.

Marielle Heller’s brilliant directing compliments the scripting by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, who bring Israel’s memoir back to life nearly 20 years after the events of the film.

The pair leave no stone unturned, appearing to have immersed themselves in Israel’s mind themselves – the attention to detail is exquisite. Scenes of Israel’s claustrophobic apartment are demonstrated by the various typewriters Israel buys to make her forgeries look so accurate.

The talents behind this film show what amazing filmmakers and actors should do – give their audiences something to think about. After watching this film, you can’t help but ponder the lengths we would go to in order to get by.

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant are at their best and make the pair of criminals so human we question whether they really are the villains we expect them to be.