Things are not going well for Lee Israel as we meet her in Can You Ever Forgive Me? The solitary New Yorker is fired from a copy editing job due to her two most distinguishing characteristics: a caustic personality and a glass of scotch on the rocks affixed to her hand with only slightly less permanence than her fingers. A strait-laced co-worker reminds her that food and drink aren't allowed in the office and the busybody is invited to fuck off. When a man asks her to repeat what she said, Lee does so with zest. The man, she realizes too late, is her boss, who summarily dismisses her. Ms. Israel finishes her drink, tosses the ice into a trash can and returns the glass to her purse, off to joust with an adversarial world on other fields of battle. Loss of the no-doubt poorly paying job only exacerbates the already tenuous standing in the world of writer Lee Israel. Once there were magazine assignments (a prof...