Episode 151. Wicked Little Letters (2023)

On this episode of B&R at the Movies podcast, Berry and Robin watch and discus the 2023 film Wicked Little Letters. This is a wild true story of letter writing harassment with some outrageous profanity. The film is directed by Thea Sharrock and stars Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, Timothy Spall, Gemma Jones, Anjana Vasan, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope, Eileen Atkins, Alisha Weir, and Joanna Scanlan. This film will leave you laughing and speechless. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

All right, everybody. Welcome back for another episode of BR at the movies podcast. I'm Barry.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

And I'm Robin.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

When am I ever going to do the intro?

SPEAKER_01 0:24

You want to do it?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Sometime I will. I'll probably freak people out. I'll probably just stumble over all my words, go blow we can I was gonna say we can edit this and then start over. No, this I think we should keep this talking about it. Okay. Oh, we definitely are.

unknown 0:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Anyway, so yes, it was my pick.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Your choice. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

So we're watching a movie that neither one of us has seen. It is as it is currently on Netflix, and it's Wicked Little Letters. Wicked Little Letters. Yes. Um I I guess I'm choosing it because it's mostly English actors.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Uh Olivia Coleman. Um I don't know who Jesse Buckley, but I think I will because I find out she is the main character.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

And Timothy Spauld, which I do like very much, you know. If anybody's seen Harry Potter, which you have not, whatever. He's in that. But every good English actor is in Harry Potter movies. There you go. Right. But is this uh you know, this is uh an English film.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

And I enjoy an English film, and it w I as I said when we sat down, all the movies I was thinking, women first. Women, yeah, forward. You know, so this is women. Women, women are the main characters in this.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

All right on.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

So um anyway, um, it it seems like it's a little lighthearted, but there's kind of a serious undertone, is my understanding.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Oh, okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Um so and it's about a small English town, and it is a period piece, and I can't remember if it's uh the thirties or the forties.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Okay. So it's one of those. But it's the thirties or forties in England, which will make it feel older than that.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Right. Yeah, probably so. But um, but anyway, so it is it is that. And it it just it just seemed like I I remember uh someone talking about the title, and of course I like Livia Coleman very much. And um it just seemed like oh, I'd love to see her in something else. So here we are.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

There we go. That's how we do it.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, good enough for me.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, exactly. You know, I and that's that's how it works so many times for me, where I'm just like don't know anything about a film. I see it, you know, kind of get uh a brief sense of who's in it or something. It's like it's like all right, go for it. Yeah, we'll figure, you know, find out.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Now, this could be something I really like and you do not. So that's that's a possibility. Of course. But I do feel like for myself, it's like, yeah, I think I'd like it.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, who knows? Maybe it'll be something that that I'll really enjoy and you won't, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Maybe so. Whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Yeah, we never know. Yeah, but yeah. But yeah, I you know, I've realized I haven't been on Netflix for long enough that um I was looking at the movies on Netflix and I'm going, I want to see that, I want to see that, oh, I wish I could see that again. Oh, I wish I had Netflix so I could watch this and that and everything else. So, because when I was on Netflix, I'm literally was like running out of things to watch. I was re-watching things, and it's like that's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

That's kind of where I get to where I've got all my different streaming platforms, and then I'll put one down for a little while, and then I'll come and then I'll think, like, oh well, I don't watch anything on it, might as well get rid of it. But before I get rid of it, let me just open up and just check and see. And then it's like, oh, look at all this good stuff. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

It's like, oh well, it's totally worth it. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

That's how I don't get rid of any of them.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah, I guess that's probably with no most people.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

But uh, but yeah, I'm I'm I'm anxious to Twitter to watch this. I do not personally have Netflix, so you are my Netflix guy. There you go. And so I have a chance to see this movie and I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Absolutely. Yeah, it'll be definitely interesting. You know, we'll see. You know, we've uh we've had some good ones that we've you know, we we dive into the unknown and then we've had some other ones that weren't as weren't as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

And I I get the idea from this it's a small film.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

It's okay, you know. So it's not obviously, I mean, it's not a blockbuster thing. Right. I don't think the UK does blockbuster things, thank God. Leave that to us crazy Americans. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That just leave that alone. Yeah, but no, so I I think it is a small film, probably a lot of dialogue. Um, but you know, yeah. Yeah, it should be good. I I'm I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Absolutely. All right, sounds good. All right, and it's 2023. 2023 for this one. Okay. So just a couple of not too long.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

So it's been around for just a couple years, but you know, um, yeah, I think it'll be really interesting. All right, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

We're gonna go ahead and dive in and watch Pretty Little Letters.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Uh Wicked Little Wicked.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

I don't know why it's I love using that name.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

When something is wicked, I use like someone has a wicked sense of humor. This is wicked little letters.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Wicked little letters. All right, yeah, we're gonna watch Wicked Little Letters and then we'll come back a little bit to talk about it. Okay, all right. We will be back in a little while. All right, everybody, welcome back. We just got done watching Wicked Little Letters.

unknown 5:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

And since uh this was your choice, yes, you go first, I get to go first, even though it was first time for both of us. Yeah, yep. Um there's elements of it that I that I liked, and then there's some that were extremely frustrating. Okay, um you choose. So um so I I like the way it was shot. Um, I liked um I like the cinematography of it, like the story of it. Um it's just the blatant sexism, racism, every other kind of ism you can think of, like thrown in your face like the whole time throughout it. That was just like it was a little overwhelming just constantly.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Um, but um, but I thought, you know, I guess it's based on a true story, and it's like, you know, so I I thought it was I thought it was pretty, you know. I there are parts of it like when they're invest when they're actually doing like their investigation stuff that were really kind of funny and stuff. So I like the like the the comedy side of it. I thought that was done really well. Um But um yeah, it's kind of hard for me to get around some of that the that just uh the the sexism? Uh well it wasn't it wasn't even just the sexism, but it was just like everything. Like it was just uh Like what else?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I mean it's because it does it I I did read something that you know it's about women who you know aren't believed and aren't upheld in the community, that sort of thing. Well, yeah, what else?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

It's just it it's just the you know, when they're the guys that think that they're they know everything just because they're guys and then they're just like rubbing it in their faces, you know, and it's like And don't you think that's true? Oh I know that's what's annoying with it, and it's like and it's just frustrating, and it's just like oh my god, it's just like how were people this dumb?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, but that's what women went through.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I yeah, and it's just that's why I'm saying it's just aggravating. I was just like, oh my gosh, they had to go through this. Yeah, and it's like, oh and like their justice system of like trying to like it was just like baffling, where it's just like it's like, oh well, I think she did it. Okay, she did it. Yeah, we're gonna try we're gonna put her in jail, and it's like what?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah, it's like it's just but but I I truly believe that's how things went that back then.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Because this was in the twenties, right? Yeah, so that was quite a ways back. Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, I mean I I I mean I I liked a lot, I liked, you know, the how many times did they use the F word?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I wonder.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I completely lost count. I think this had this has got to set the record for like some of the most creative cussing that I've had.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

It's a lot. It is really a lot. It's definitely not made for young people to what did you think of it? I I really I really enjoyed it because it was about women who were, you know, yeah. We weren't given a lot of chances, but still, I mean, come together and use their brain and figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

And um I'm sorry, that's kind of like the way it is for women. That's really true.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

It um I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

But we did t I did tell you this was like women forward kind of.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Well, yeah, I mean it definitely is. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Because yeah, but back Yeah. I mean I mean even I mean just to think about the way women when I Well I think it was with me even.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

What's that?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

I I couldn't get a credit card by myself, my husband would have to sign for it.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah, um, you know, and that's uh yeah. And there I mean there's a lot of things that women have put up with and have come come along, but even in my generation.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

That's just wild.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

It's like Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean yeah, yeah, that yeah, women couldn't have much, if anything. And uh I mean and this is in the twenties, so yeah, they had even less. It's just I don't know, it's just uh it's just mind blowing that it's you know that people thought like this, and it's just like they're just like just because of your gender, it's like that's you know, you don't have a good idea, you don't have a rational thought, or that's the I mean and even with this, I mean to have a woman policeman, police, you know, you know, officer, right? Uh very, very rare. Uh that that didn't happen a lot. Yeah, and and it would be hard to stay in the job because as she was railroaded uh into you know subservient kind of work, right? As far as you know, not obviously not being equal. Yeah. And I mean, I'm sorry, women even still today, I could get on a little bandwagon here and get a little soapbox and talk about how, you know, yeah, women don't have it equal.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

It it just it just blows my mind that it's like I I it's like we've you know, there's times where I feel like you know, for society we we've come so far and then there's like just stuff like this where it's just like no yeah, it it's it's not complete.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

And it's like, oh my gosh, it's like uh it's just like but maybe that's that's good for to for people to watch something that kind of opens their eyes a little bit to that.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah, yeah, that's for sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Um yeah, but but yeah, I did like it. I lit like the actresses, and I just realized so just Jessica But Buckley, who played Rose. Yeah, uh I just saw her in the in the film Hamlet. Hamlet.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Oh, did you really?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

She was the main character.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Oh, that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

She was married to William Shakespeare.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

I'm going. Oh my god. And the way I can recognize her, she's got a crooked smile just like me.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Came out in that movie too.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

I thought she did a great I thought she did a fantastic job.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I really yeah, I mean, really, I think she is a stunning actress. And but you know, and then I I just saw her in the film in the in the theater. And uh yeah, she is she was pretty amazing. So I think we're gonna try to remember her name.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah, she's definitely one to look out for. Yeah. Um I mean, I I thought, you know, with Olivia Coleman, I mean she did she did a great job of especially kind of playing like a a two-faced kind of character. Yeah. And it was, yeah, it was kind of it was it definitely was kind of it felt unique probably for her that it, you know, to try and do something like that, that it wasn't that uh she wasn't as as advertised at the beginning, you know. And so and then it's like all of a sudden just like you know, find out she's got this whole dark side to her because kind of and I think the one little piece I read about this was that Limi Olivia Coleman in real life has a mouth on her.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Well, I've I we've we've seen that from like when she does like Graham Norton and stuff like that, where it's like it just kind of slips out a lot, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

It's kind of like so yeah, the words yeah come pretty easily for her. But to think that this is a whole movie, that's the topic, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

It was kind of it was one of those where you know, where I was waiting for like a bigger twist of it of the writing of the letters instead of it just being Olivia because it was like the whole time I kept thinking, I'm like, I bet it's probably her that's writing them herself.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, so now we just gave it away, you know. Well, people need people gonna talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Well, spoiler alerts. Okay. I've always said that it's like if we put out the title, uh put out the title of the episode is the name of the film that we're watching. We know they know we're gonna talk about the film that we're watching.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

The entire film, we're not keeping anything back.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

If people like you know, think that you know we're spoiling something for them. I'm sorry, you kind of had it coming. So sorry.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, so I mean, at first it was like, you know, yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

And then I was kind of amazed that it was revealed that she was writing him. And then the whole lying on the stand and the not taking and continuing to do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Was just like, oh my God, who is this person?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

And and it really kind of uh, you know, because I mean if you look at it, it's a really simple story.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Right, right, yeah, yeah. There's not that.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

But uh, but that really was very interesting way of you know, so it wasn't like a big twist at the end, or yeah, you know, it wasn't really it wasn't trying to fool you.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

It was almost halfway through. They kind of it they showed you it was her, and yeah, and then not only that, then explain like you know how she was delivering the letters and how she was doing it. And so yeah, it wasn't like a build, build, build, and then all of a sudden it's like, yeah, there's like a whole big reveal at the end, you know, or something. Yeah, it was it was an interesting way of of doing it.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

And it's and it's just kind of amazing too, because I mean she got caught. It's not like she confessed because of the goodness of her heart. Right. She got caught.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah, and then yeah, and then like when she's getting loaded into the back of the of the of the paddy wagon where she's just like she's like, I did it, I did it, it was me, it was me the whole time. It's like yeah, it's like yeah, it's like and then that cackle of her laugh, like she's being yeah, she's being carted away, and I was just like, Yeah, yeah, it's like wild.

unknown 15:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

But um, but I like the supporting cast. Yeah, I thought they I like the other ladies that were in this.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

I thought, yep, I thought they all did really well. I like that they they brought enough comedy to it, and they brought, you know and and I liked the the mixture of the ladies.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

They were all so different, right? Different ages, different, you know, vocabulary, just different. Yeah, and they come together, and I I guess I I like that part very much.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah. I I liked all the I liked all those actresses. I thought they all did really, really well. I thought um some of them I'd seen before in in other in other stuff. Yeah, but yeah, they were they all did they all do really well in this.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

They did. They they really rounded out the movie for me. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

I mean, yeah, so it's it's it was not a bad film. I definitely I I enjoyed it in the end, but it's when it's stuff like that where it's almost like painful for me to like let my own.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Well, I think it's good we didn't load and just be like, come on, it blank you're good thing we didn't watch the other movie I was thinking of then, okay? Because we were thinking I was thinking of um on the basis of sex.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Oh yeah, you would have just been eh How could you talk to someone like that? Right, you know, and this was in the you know, for her Ruth Bader, Ginsburg, that's what the move that other movie's about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

It was in the 50s. It was in the 50s, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

And this is when you got into law school and yeah, you're gone. But you know, I mean, you talk about that's why women like strong women. I well no, I and I'm women that because it's really hard when you get pushed down and pushed down, and it's really hard to stand up, but if you there can be some women that can just stand up. It's like, yeah, you do it. I wish I could, I wish I was that strong. I'm so glad there's somebody out there who can.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, and I it's just uh yeah, like a it's but it's uh it's designed to give you that that kind of reaction, I think, of like of like, oh my god, like this is ridiculous that these yeah, he won't listen to her just because she's a woman.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

And in the end, I liked it too. It not like the men changed their mind. The men said they figured it out.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yeah, well they were trying to take credit for it. Of course they were.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

So it's not like they nothing's really gonna change in that one.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

And and that is a lot of you know, I I I talk about women just because I've been there. Right, right. But there's that, yeah. You know, I it is it is really hard when you get, you know, you really try to stand up, you really try to show yourself, and people will will put you down or keep you down. And um there I'm I think there are a lot of men that maybe don't realize that's really what's happening. Yeah. And uh it still happens today. Oh you know, I mean, and even with women and how much they get paid, it really is a pay gap. And and you know, and a lot of people like, no, there's not. Yes, there is. There truly is. Women get paid less.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Well, I I don't I think it it depends on on the profession sometimes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

I've it's not equal. I've it really is not equal.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

I I've worked in professions where I work where women are doing the the same job as me and getting same or more or you know Do they really discuss it with you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Okay. Yeah, okay. I mean we have all that's good they do.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, we have I mean we definitely have and it's based more on you know time of of doing the job and your and where you are in the company and where you're gonna and where you're at and you know for for getting promoted and where you know. I so I I agree that you know it's been a struggle for women to be able to um to be able to get there, but I think that at least in the prof I can't speak for every profession okay or the one or you know, I can only speak from my experience as well, but I've seen where the they are getting uh equal pay. But I mean I wish it was the same, you know, all the way across the board. I don't, you know, I obviously don't know if it is, but yeah, I I think that you know I I hope that as a society we're coming a long way, but you know, I still, you know, I I just don't know.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Oh, let me see. The president of the United States, what does he think of women? Let me think. Let me think.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I was gonna say I we're we're not getting into that one.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, he's our leader and this is his mentality, so no.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, we're you know he's his that's a whole nother.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

But that but that does show that you know that can influence a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Well, I don't I I think if they're if they're being influenced by that, then then they're ridiculous to them in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

You know, a lot of times they kind of think that way, but here's here's this very powerful person who believes that. So I guess maybe they can think that way too.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah, I don't know, maybe act that way towards women. I sure hope not.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

I hope that I mean the lack of respect, it's like whew. Yeah, yeah, you know, but that is kind of the basis of this film.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Yeah. We're women are very complicated in that way.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Well, people in general are complicated. Not necessarily just women.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

But anyway, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

But yeah, I mean I um the I like to like like I said, I I liked a lot about this film. Uh but uh yeah, it's just one of those where it's just like you just want to go in there and just like smack the guys around for being so stupid. Yeah it's like but you can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah, but you know, take it in the context of when it was. Right, exactly. This is how it was. There you go. Yeah, but there you go. All right, so I guess we've talked. Enough about this.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Alright, we'll go wrap this one up.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

All right. Well, thank you everybody for listening. Uh, make sure you go check out Wicked Little Letters. And till next time, I'm Barry. And I'm Robin. And we will talk to you guys later.