Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Jack and I loved this comedy about Edith, a prim 1920s English woman, and her cheerful foulmouthed neighbor Rose. Olivia Colman and Jesse Buckley beautifully inhabit the leading roles, with added support from Timothy Spall as Rose's dreadful father, Gemma Jones as her quiet mother, Anjana Vasan as Woman Police Officer Moss, and Lolly Adefope and Eileen Atkins providing extra laughs as Edith's card game friends. Moss encounters quite a bit of sexism, played for laughs, and I can't for sure confirm whether she's referred to as Woman Police Office or Woman Police Constable, but always the three word title.

Director Thea Sharrock keeps a lively pace with the screenplay by Jonny Sweet, based on a hundred year old true story in Littlehampton, England. If you know the real story, outlined in this spoiler-filled link, you won't be surprised by the twist, about an hour in, that Jack totally saw coming.

Isobel Waller-Bridge's soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music.

Colman was last blogged for Empire of Light, Buckley for I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Spall for Finding Your Feet, Jones for You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Waller-Bridge for Emma. I'm a fan of Vasan's series We Are Lady Parts, about an all-female Muslim punk band (streaming on Peacock), and Adefope's work on the series Shrill, as well as a role in Saltburn among her dozens of credits. Venerable English actress (like Jones) Atkins may be best known for Gosford Park (2001) but has played over a hundred film and TV parts starting in 1959. This is Sharrock's third time directing a feature, with a fourth on Netflix right now. Sweet started acting before writing and has a small part in this movie. It's his feature screenwriting debut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is a slightly mischievous 80%, while its audiences come in at a positively devilish 92. We rented it on Apple TV on June 8.