Can You Ever Forgive Me? | 2018 | R | – 3.2.6

Why is “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language including some sexual references, and brief drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes implied sex, brief male nudity, arguments, drug and alcohol use, and over 15 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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A writer (Melissa McCarthy) down on her luck and unable to land a publishing deal, finds a creative, albeit illegal, way to pay her bills: she starts forging collectible literary artifacts such as letters, estimated to be in the hundreds, by deceased authors and actors. Based on the true story of Lee Israel. Also with Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Gregory Korostishevsky, Jane Curtin, Stephen Spinella and Christian Navarro. Directed by Marielle Heller. [Running Time: 1:46]

Can You Ever Forgive Me? SEX/NUDITY 3

 – Two men are shown in bed together and sex is implied; one man is shown shirtless and we see his bare back and shoulders and when the other man gets out of bed we see his bare buttocks.
► A man flirts with a server in a café and we later see them meet and embrace on the sidewalk. A woman says that she and her girlfriend broke up. A man says of an actress, “She liked the ladies too.”

Can You Ever Forgive Me? VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 - A man pounds on a woman's door and we see that he has a bloody lip and a bruised cheek from being punched; the woman cleans his wounds. A woman finds her cat dead under a sofa and she cries while holding her body; she takes the body to the vet in a boot box. A man is shown to be ill and he walks with a cane.
► A woman yells at a man when it seems that he is stealing from her and she says, "I'll [F-word deleted] kill you." A man tries to extort money from a woman to keep quiet about the forged letters she sold him. A woman calls a man on the phone and pretends that his apartment is on fire and he panics when he realizes his dog is in the apartment (there is no fire). A woman walks through an office and says something about killing herself if she gets to be another woman's age and is still doing the same job; the other woman overhears and says, "I could kill you now if you ask me nicely." A woman argues with a man who won't buy her books at a used book shop. A man says that a woman died, but then remembers that she didn't die, but that she moved to the suburbs and had children. A man says that he has a "little shoplifting problem." Two women argue about one woman's writing. A man says, "All my friends are dead." Two women talk about dying and what will be remembered of them. A woman says, "I'm gonna go to jail," and "I'll kill myself first." A man says that TV "rots the brain." An attorney tells a woman that she will likely spend some time behind bars. A man says to a woman, "I don't think you are a very nice person." A woman is told that the letters she has been selling are fakes and that people won't buy from her anymore because she is on an FBI list.
► A woman is sentenced to 5 years probation and 6 months house arrest. A woman becomes concerned when her cat won't eat. A woman claims someone else's coat at a party and leaves with it. A woman is fired from her job when she is rude to another employee and drinks alcohol at her desk. A woman is behind on her rent and is afraid that she will be kicked out. A woman steals a document from an archive and replaces it with a fake.
► We see 2 dead flies on a woman's pillow and hear flies buzzing in her apartment in several scenes. Three men recoil when an apartment door is opened and the smell overwhelms them. We see cat feces and fur balls collected under a woman's bed. A woman remembers that a man urinated in a coat closet at a party and laughs about the furs that were ruined in the incident.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? LANGUAGE 6

 - About 16 F-words and its derivatives, 5 sexual references, 13 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (lazy, macabre, idiot, disrespectful, rude little ape, posh, right wing macho [scatological term deleted], white male propaganda, decrepit, moron, old hair ball, cocky, old Kraut, seedy, shameless, dreary, coward, old fart, old dog, ridiculous, self- involved, miserable, stupid, horrid [anatomic term deleted]), exclamations (wow), 2 religious profanities (GD), 11 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Jesus, God Forbid, Oh Lord, Thank God, Oh God). | profanity glossary |

Can You Ever Forgive Me? SUBSTANCE USE

 - A man says that he has some very nice cocaine, a man talks about having sold cocaine and that it was mostly a laxative, a man snorts cocaine off a table top, and a man smokes marijuana. A woman drinks a glass of whiskey at her desk in an office, a woman drinks in bars in many scenes and is sometimes accompanied by a man who also drinks, people drink and smoke at a music club, a woman drinks whiskey in her apartment, two women drink wine with a meal and one woman says she's tipsy, two men drink liquor in an apartment, a woman is told that she needs to go to AA meetings, a man says that medication he must take makes gin taste like mouthwash, and people drink liquor and smoke cigarettes at a party. A woman smokes on a sidewalk, a man smokes on a sidewalk, a man smokes in several bar scenes, and a man smokes on a woman's bed.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Success, talent, publishing, fraud, forgery, death of a pet, relationships, aging, accomplishments, pride, writer's block, publicity, celebrity, homosexuality, regrets, agoraphobia, lying, trust, AIDS, criticism, alcoholism.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? MESSAGE

 - Success is sometimes hard to achieve.