Ticket 2 Ride

The previews looked very funny and witty. A comedy mystery. Olivia Colman starring. What’s not to like?

Wicked Little Letters is not the kind of film to play the big theater chains, or even last very long at the art houses. It is the kind of film that will struggle to find an audience, and that’s a shame. Why, because it’s difficult to categorize and it’s British, both challenges for American audiences.

This is not so much a whodunnit, because the who is easy to figure out by the time it is shown on screen, the challenge is, how is the letter written going to be caught?

The film takes place in England after World War I. A series of nasty letters are received by a middle aged woman living with her elderly parents. The letters are shocking in their profanity and sexual direction. Finally, the matter is taken up with the police, who arrest the young, boisterous, foul-mouthed next door neighbor. She is the perfect suspect.

The film takes a few twists and turns on its way to a satisfying climax (sorry for that reference). There are a few big laughs, but more wit and social commentary. One of the subplots regards a young policewoman who discovers a clue in the case, but is shutdown by her boss, and ridiculed as unqualified to investigate this case. The message is very clear: women have certain assigned roles and should stay there. Actually, this message applies to most of the female characters in the film. Men, and even other women in the film, make assumptions that prove wrong. The message while clear, is not heavy-handed, rather done with biting comedy.

The screenplay is good, but the acting is even better. Olivia Colman is one of the best actors alive. And she proves it again here, in an unglamorous role as uptight and repressed Edith. Watch her expressive face and how she turns sharply on emotions. Her name might be familiar, but her work certainly is. From Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, a detective in the acclaimed series Broadchurch, the daughter in The Father, Mrs. Scruppit in Wonka, and of course her Academy Award winning performance in The Favourite.

Jessie Buckley (as Rose Gooding) is an award winning Irish actor as the brash neighbor. Anjana Vasan (as Constable Gladys Moss) played the determined, spunky, young policewoman. Timothy Spall (as Edith’s creepy and mean father) is funny and scary at the same.

Others in the wonderful supporting cast include Dame Eileen Atkins (as Mabel), Joanna Scanlan (as Acteur), Lolly Adefope (at Kate), Malachi Kirby (as Bill), Paul Chahidi (as the Chief Constable) and Hugh Skinner (as Constable Paperwick).

Wicked Little Letters was written by Jonny Sweet based on the real-life case, and directed by Thea Sharrock, whose work spans television, film and theater.

Give this film a chance, or you might find a wicked letter in your own postal delivery.

4/5 stars