Keeping Mum Movie Review:


This warm, funny comedy has a black edge to it that's surprisingly disturbing. Getting audiences to laugh at murder is tricky business, and these filmmakers aren't quite up to the challenge. Unless you've got a sadistic sense of humour.

Walter (Atkinson), the vicar of Little Wallop, population 57, has begun to take his job a bit seriously, ignoring his bored, cranky wife Gloria (Scott Thomas), his nymphomaniac daughter (Egerton) and his bullied son (Parkes). As Gloria finds a spark with the womanising golf pro (Swayze), her new housekeeper Grace (Smith) arrives with a rather drastic way of dealing with difficulties. And she also has a (not so) surprising connection to the family.

There are two films in here: One is about rekindling of the spark that holds a family together, as Dad deals with his workaholism, Mum reassesses her priorities and the kids each learn Important Life Lessons. But the catalyst for this change is from a different film altogether--as if she wandered in from the universe of Throw Momma From the Train. Basically, it's impossible to have a heartwarming story with gruesome serial killing at the centre of it.

Maybe a more warped filmmaker could manage it, but Johnson and Russo seem to want their cake and to stomp on it too. Scott Thomas plays the central role with a natural, engaging touch. Atkinson drifts into befuddled Mr Bean territory far too often before coming around strongly in the end. Swayze wittily plays on the sleazy loser persona he perfected in Donnie Darko. And Smith, of course, has impeccable timing as the sweet old lady with the heart of coal. It's no mean feat that she convinces us Grace is a good person.

There's a superb sharp edge to the family dynamic, but homicide is one step too far. We know from the prologue what Grace is capable of, so her continuing actions aren't shocking or revealing. They're just nasty and callous, especially since the filmmakers pretend that there are no ramifications at all. Besides leaving a bad taste in our mouths, this kind of undermines all the heavily meaningful religious messages.



Rich Cline

In a genteel rural English village local Reverend, Walter Goodfellow (Atkinson) is more concerned about this pastoral folk than this family. His wife Gloria (Scott Thomas) is bored and spends far too much time with her golf coach Lance (Swayze), his daughter Holly (Egerton) is sleeping with every young man in the village and his son Petey (Parkes) is been bullied at school. Things are about to change however when the new housekeeper Grace (Smith), starts to make some changes in her own special way.

British comedies have been a little hit and miss over the past few years. For every ‘Love Actually’ or ‘Bridget Jones’ there is a ‘Kevin & Perry Go Large’ but can ‘Keeping Mum’ provide the laughs?

An excellent cast filled with the best of British and a former Hollywood heartthrob, the writing on the wall for this comedy was good but unfortunately it fails to deliver. The idea of the housekeeper going on a killing spree as she gets rid of anyone who gets in the way of the family she works for, is a good one and has the potential for a riotous comedy but there is one thing lacking, laughs. ‘Keeping Mum’ is simply just a nice film that just does just enough to keep you interested and raise the odd smile but it you are expecting your sides to be hurting, you will be gravely disappointed.

The main problem with the movie is that the interesting premise is never pushed as far as it could have been. The idea of casting the legendary Maggie Smith as a serial killing housekeeper is a stroke of genius but she is let down by a script that just doesn’t go far enough. While she does get to kill a few people, the filmmakers had the opportunity to make a killer pensioner comedy gold. Instead we have a comedy that simply just trundles along, never raising anything more than a smile.

The cast do there best with the script but it doesn’t push their talents to the maximum. Rowan Atkinson is a mixed bag when it comes to creating characters. He can play the moronic idiot (Mr Bean) or the confident, manipulator (Edmond Blackadder) but this part doesn’t really push his skills anyway near as much as it could have. Walter Goodfellow is what you’d expect a reverend to be like but he doesn’t get the chance to be as funny as he could have been. Kristen Scott Thomas has the most to do in the film but the script doesn’t push her talents far enough as the reverend’s neglected wife, Gloria. Patrick Swayze successfully lampoon’s himself however as golf pro Lance with an eye for the ladies. This is a fun role of the actor and he throws himself into the role. Tamsin Egerton also makes a noticeable appearance as tearaway daughter Holly.

‘Keeping Mum’ is a pleasant movie that manages to raise the odd smile but you do end up feeling it could have been much better. The premise and actors deserved a lot better as the script lets the movie down. Feeling more like a TV movie than a motion picture, you will be keeping mum about the lack of laughs in this film.

Jamie Kelwick

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