Given the divide in America, where neighbors are seemingly tearing each other apart each day, at least if you watch Fox News, a comedy about warring neighbors who hate each other seems pretty timely, right? But this time, the relevance of the divided house is transported to a period piece in the charming seaside town of Littlehampton, England. That is essentially the premise of the F-bomb-filled black comedy “Wicked Little Letters.”
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Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, Sony Pictures Classics “Wicked Little Letters,” a dark comedy starring Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley, who play neighbors that get on each other’s nerves in a small English town where residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters, igniting a social scandal in their community (read our review).
Directed by Thea Sharrock (2016’s “Me Before You” and 2020’s “The One and Only Ivan”), the film, based on a true story, is primarily a tête-à-tête between the two A-list Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning actors (in the case of Colman), but Timothy Spall and Anjana Vasan also co-star.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, WICKED LITTLE LETTERS follows two neighbors: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith and her fellow residents begin to receive wicked letters full of unintentionally hilarious profanities, foul-mouthed Rose is charged with the crime. The anonymous letters prompt a national uproar, and a trial ensues. However, as the town’s women — led by Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) — begin to investigate the crime themselves, they suspect that something is amiss, and Rose may not be the culprit after all.
“Wicked Little Letters” arrives in U.K. cinemas on February 23, but Sony Pictures Classics will release the comedy on March 29 in New York and LA and then will release the film wide on April 5. Watch the new trailer below.
