Within the first few minutes of “Wicked Little Letters,” you might find yourself letting out a shocked laugh at the words that grace your ears – words I do not have the pleasure of being able to type here, as they will surely be censored by my editor.
“Wicked Little Letters” is based on the true story of a scandal that rocked the small seaside town of Littlehampton just after World War I, where numerous residents received a number of crude letters – and that’s putting things lightly. The letters and their illicit, albeit creative content took the town by storm. To give you an example (if my editor will allow) one letter called its reader an “old beetle” and suggested they liked to, ahem, have intercourse using their nostrils. But while gossip no doubt ran rampant throughout Littlehampton, the truth of the letters came down to the relationship between two women and, or so the movie posits, the thrill one gets from being a little bit naughty.
That cheeky sort of naughtiness is embedded in the DNA of director Thea Sharrock’s film, a delicious vulgarity that, despite your best efforts, is sure to make you chuckle. The mystery of the letter writer itself is a bit less fun than the film’s overall tone, a bit too easy to see coming. But the film never loses its sense of humor, a wonderfully funny script from Jonny Sweet boosted by a great supporting cast. If nothing else, “Wicked Little Letters” offers you a great opportunity to see the cream of the crop of British talent curse their brains out.
The two women at the center of this scandal are Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). Though the two women couldn’t be more different – Edith is quiet and pious where Rose is boisterous and foul-mouthed – they form an unlikely friendship when Rose moves in next door with her daughter Nancy (Alisha Weir) and live-in boyfriend Bill (Malachi Kirby).
But after a heated encounter between Rose…
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