May 9, 2025
Can you ever forgive me?, 2018
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Can you ever forgive me?, 2018
Do you know Head over Heels (2015) ?
Yes, I’ve been in it/worked on it
Yes, I’ve seen it
Yes, I’ve listened to it
No, but I’ve heard of it
No, never heard of it
Jeff Whitty
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Gay
DOB: 30 September 1971
Ethnicity: White - American
Occupation: Playwright, actor, screenwriter
“There’s a Fine, Fine Line” is the fourteenth song and the act I finale in the 2003 Broadway musical Avenue Q. This show features music and lyrics by Robert Lopez (Book of Mormon) and Jeff Marx (Book of Mormon), and a book by Jeff Whitty (Bring It On: The Musical). It was nominated for six Tony Awards and won three, including Best Musical, and was also nominated for the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album. This song is performed by Stephanie D'Abruzzo, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award, and who won a Theater World Award for her performance as Kate Monster.
The American Theatre Wing Interviews the Creators of “Avenue Q”
This is an outstanding interview in both the art and business of bringing a musical to life on Off-Broadway and Broadway. Around the 50-minute mark, Jeff Seller gets VERY transparent about the financial logistics of transferring “Avenue Q” from Off-Broadway to Broadway.Very honest and insightful!
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
Directed by Marielle Heller
Cinematography by Brandon Trost
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Marielle Heller, 2018).
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
I wish Melissa McCarthy would sit down and watch Can You Ever Forgive Me? so she could realize her time is wasted on the comedies she's been cranking out. Films like this one are what her agent should be pointing her towards.
Based on a true story, author Lee Israel (McCarthy) is drowning. She’s behind on her rent, just lost her job, suffers from writer’s block, and her cat - basically her only companion - is sick. Desperate for cash, she begins forging letters from renowned authors with the help of an old friend, Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant).
I love the way this movie creates an internal struggle. Israel is an awful human being. Worse, she isn’t even good at being herself. Be nasty but successful. That's perfectly acceptable. No. She’s a self-destructive alcoholic who pushes everyone away. At one point, she asks her agent for advice. The words offered to her are so spot-on they devastate you. When she begins forging documents, you simultaneously begin to like her more… and less. At least now she's driven and productive and the scheme forces her to interact with Jack. Even though he’s a scoundrel (let’s be kind) at least they're no longer stagnant pools of misery. Unfortunately, the longer she keeps the con going, the worse you know it'll be. You see how this “career” is improving her life, at least initially. You've grown to like her… but you still want her to get caught. Maybe for an entirely different reason now.
There are many points where director Marielle Heller turns you into a fully transparent pane of glass and then attacks you with a sledgehammer. The pacing and the slowly bubbling tension is sublime. You can just feel how well writers Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty captured the raw honesty of this outrageous story. Big praises towards McCarthy and Grant too. They play off each other so well they’re able to make you forget how you SHOULD feel about their characters and instead endears you to them. You laugh when they’re together - there’s a lot of dark wit in their dialogue - and then they’ll do a little something that’ll make you furious because deep down, you see how broken and sad they are. You desperately want them to quit while they're ahead but also draw a guilty pleasure from watching them as they make their way closer and closer to that cliff's edge. How many more steps before the ground beneath them gives away and they fall down screaming?
I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing Can You Ever Forgive Me? In theatres and had to wait for it to be available at home instead. I wish I could’ve told you about this movie earlier. On the other hand, it would’ve made making my “Best of 2018” list even more difficult. (August 10, 2019)