My Salinger Year

Qualley is charming as the young writer who ends up answering Salinger's fan mail in this entertaining, earnest adaptation of Rakoff's literary memoir. With her wide, expressive eyes, Qualley is ideally cast as eager Joanna, who happily lives in a terrible floor-through in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with her leftist writer boyfriend, and wears a different adorable vintage outfit every day on her way to work in an agency where computers are eschewed in favor of manual typewriters. Not much happens, plot-wise, except for Joanna's continued dismay that she must type the exact same form letter to Salinger's eager fans. His fans from all backgrounds and ages narrate their letters as Joanna reads them, making her aware of how transformative his books are, even decades later. The highlight of her time at the agency is when "Jerry" calls for Margaret and chats briefly with her. The conversations are short, and sometimes Salinger can't even remember her name, but she cherishes the brief moments of writerly advice from a genuine member of the Western canon.

Weaver is entertaining as the exacting Margaret, who knows precisely how she'd like everything done. She isn't quite as deliciously mean as Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, but Margaret is still coolly aloof -- a mysterious power player who represents one of the biggest names in 20th century literature. Despite being a secondary character, Margaret has hidden depths that are revealed throughout the story. Booth, however, isn't well cast. His New York accent is distractingly off, and anyone familiar with the actor knows that he's far too polished to authentically play a bearded hipster who's obsessed with writing his own Infinite Jest. The moment when Joanna finally reads Don's manuscript is particularly effective, as she realizes he's every bit the pompous lit bro she had feared. Salinger is never fully shown in the movie, and while that could seem coy, it's actually clever. Audiences just hear his voice, deep and loud and telling Joanna to write every day.