Wicked Little Letters-British People Swearing

Much of Wicked Little Letters's comedy stems from showing its cast of prestige actors swearing and shouting expletives. And to the film's credit, that is indeed very funny. The film also explores women's rights in British society in the 1920s in ways I found pretty interesting, be it through how it shows the male characters forcing its cast of female characters to act in a polite, more "lady-like" demeanor or the sexist treatment Gladys receives as a female police officer. There's also an underlying exploration of xenophobia through the way characters treat Rose as an outsider and attribute her behavior and demeanor to her Irish upbringing.

But while the film has funny moments and explores exciting themes and ideas, there's not much here. Aside from the cursing and some witty exchanges, I didn't find the film all that funny. Most scenes felt awkward and stagnant in how it paced each scene and its attempts to explore a drier style of comedy that rarely landed. Because of this, while the film explores compelling ideas, for the most part, I found the story rather dull. The filmmaking also isn't much to write home about, as the film captures its rather lively production and costume design with a flat, shot-reverse-shot style of filmmaking that doesn't complement the occasionally witty writing as much as it should.

Wicked Little Letters has its moments and explores themes and ideas. The film also features a story with some fascinating character relationships on paper. However, some compelling and funny moments aside, the film felt dull and unfunny to me.

Now Playing in select theaters in the U.S.