‘Wicked Little Letters’ Review – Dry British Comedy Runs Out Of Steam

Oftentimes, it’s the smallest and most innocent towns that carry the most bizarre tales. Case in point: the previously untold, lost-to-history story of “The Seaside Mystery.”

Set in the 1920s, Wicked Little Letters brings the prideful town of Littlehampton into focus after the arrival of the honest-minded and free-spirited Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). Rose instantly strikes up a friendship with her religious neighbor, Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), bringing newfound meaning into both of their lives. That is until Edith discovers profane and insulting letters being sent to her. With Rose being widely known for her cursing, she’s naturally assumed to be the culprit as a media frenzy erupts around the case.

Naturally, nothing is as simple as it seems from the offset.

Directed by Thea Sharrock (known for 2016’s Me Before You) with a script by television writer Jonny Sweet, Wicked Little Letters is a witty, dry comedy full of all the British charm you’d expect from its premise. At its core, the film is about the complex forms that female friendship takes and the different avenues of escape that people yearn for when life constantly disappoints. The mystery itself has a surprise (albeit too early) reveal and keeps the audience guessing — while laughing along the way — as if it were all an Agatha Christie whodunit.

Unfortunately, the film never fully justifies being a feature-length project, as the script constantly stretches itself thin while never fully exploring the nuances of Rose and Edith’s fallout, nor what is at stake for Rose if found guilty. The inclusion of Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan), who pens herself as “Woman Officer Moss,” continues the film’s exploration of female characters in high positions of power and how they are perceived by the conservative town around them. But for all its good intentions, Sweet’s script never fully fleshes out Gladys beyond her drive to be an officer.

The cast, of course, is the least of the film’s problems. Buckley and Colman, who are building a strong case for being the next iconic on-screen duo following their work in The Lost Daughter together, bring the necessary levels of tongue-tied humor and unspoken unfulfillment to the screen. Vasan also makes for an excellent addition to the cast, always showing how Gladys is thinking three steps ahead of her fellow male colleagues.

Sweet’s script understands Colman’s effortless charm while also slowly uncovering deeper layers of her character’s motives and desires in the stale town around her. And that’s exactly the thing: as fun as it is to watch this cast working together, the charm gets worn off by the midpoint. The momentum just isn’t there, especially when the audience gets let in on the mystery so early.

Perhaps Wicked Little Letters would’ve worked better as a short film or another form of media. The film’s endnote, despite how poignant it works on paper, doesn’t work when thinking about all of the subtleties of Rose and Edith’s friendship that remain untouched throughout the 100-minute runtime. For a story that had previously been forgotten by time, it’s a shame that the film itself feels fairly forgettable on its own terms.

Wicked Little Letters is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTeCWbF8KY]