Two recently-released comedies are entertaining audiences in theaters as well as streaming.
Wicked Little Letters starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, and Timothy Spall, with a back-up cast of prominent British thespians, tells the story of Edith, a stiff-backed, devout Christian spinster who receives lewd letters from an anonymous source. The year is 1920, in the British village of Littlehampton. It’s a time when the population was split between conservatives and liberals, particularly liberal suffragist women who were breaking away from prim Victorian manners.
Wicked Little Letters is based on a real-life scandal and court case. The focus falls to a raging battle between prissy Edith and foul-mouthed lower-class liberal Rose. Who is composing such shocking letters? The two women are at odds, and the police and neighborhood are involved. The sizeable cast of eccentrics provide plenty of audience interest and plenty of laughs.
But there is a sadness to the story. Edith’s father, played by Spall, is a throwback to strict Victorian parents of the sort who physically punished and otherwise humiliated their children. A middle-aged spinster in those days fared no better than a ten-year-old girl.
Thelma is a very different sort of comedy. It’s a modern-day tale of a 93-year-old widow—played by June Squibb who actually was 93 when she made the film. Thelma is scammed out of $10,000 cash by a phone voice she believes to be her dear grandson Danny. Rather than taking it lying down, she teams up with her friend, Ben, played by the late Richard Roundtree. They take Ben’s two-person scooter and hunt down the chiselers. Because they are old, they are seen as fragile. Their adventures bring them to dangers that younger persons would have avoided. Old age has rendered them weak, perhaps dotty, unable to live independently. However, while their strength is shown to have crumbled, they persevere.
Thelma provides so many good laughs. Most of the time, we are focusing on Thelma’s and Ben’s remarkable ability to hunt down the perps… but the drawback of old age is ever-present.
Josh Margolin wrote, edited, and directed Thelma. It’s the first feature film he directed. His credits in theater and television are impressive, and this film is quite polished. Much of the film’s success can be attributed to the comedic talent of June Squibb. Many will remember her as the original Meemaw to Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. Her antagonism towards Sheldon’s fiancée Amy Farrah Fowler was hysterical.
Thea Sharrock directed Wicked Little Letters. Her credits include Shakespearean works, Me Before You, and television programs. The writer, Jonny Sweet, is well schooled in British comedy, going back to the Cambridge Footlights Review and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Both Wicked Little Letters and Thelma combine amusing situations with strong-willed characters. Perhaps the strength of the comedy is the brittle natures of the main characters. We laugh but we also really feel their pain.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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