By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN?: Tuesday 20 February 2024, UK release Friday 23 February RUNTIME: 100 minutes

Wicked Little Letters is based on a true story from 1920s England of neighbours Edith Swan and Rose Gooding in the seaside town of Littlehampton when a series of obscene letters begin to target Edith and others, with suspicion falling upon Rose.

• Read on for reasons including how the quality of the laugh-out-loud trailer is maintained throughout the film

Oscar winner Olivia Colman (Mosquitoes, National Theatre) produces and stars as the religious Edith under the thumb of her father with Jessie Buckley (Cabaret, Kit Kat Club) as Irish Rose who is an unmarried mother and lives a life of freedom Edith disapproves of.

Anyone who has seen the laugh-out-loud trailer will know that there is a lot of swearing in this film as the letters are recited which initially seems perfectly in keeping with the free-spirited Rose but, as she points out to Anjana Vasan’s (An Adventure, Bush Theatre) excellent policewoman, why would she risk her daughter’s future saying in letters what she’d be perfectly happy to explain out loud in the street?

There has been some criticism of the lack of motivation behind Colman’s apparent victim Edith but we felt it was quite clear it was a rebelling against the controlling behaviour of her unhinged father, played by the always excellent Timothy Spall (The Caretaker, Old Vic).

Initially the male-dominated police think it is an open and shut case with Hugh Skinner’s (The Trial, Young Vic) PC being particularly patronising to Vasan’s WPC who goes rogue and enlists the help of a terrific supporting cast including Joanna Scanlan (No Offence BAFTA Q&A) and Eileen Atkins (The Height Of The Storm, Wyndhams Theatre).

It’s left to Edith’s mother, the reliable Gemma Jones (films Rocketman and God’s Own Country), to remind us of the agony the letters are causing.

Some have criticised the face-pulling of Colman and Buckley but this is a riot of a comedy despite it very much being a story where it takes women to understand the actions of a woman.

Perhaps it’s our sense of humour but we found the quality of the trailer was maintained throughout the film and, although it may not have a huge amount of depth, it boasts lots of laughs.

And who doesn’t need that tonic now and again?

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Wicked Little Letters
• Have you seen an Olivia Colman or Jessie Buckley film/show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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