Keeping Mum (2005)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The family of the retiring and oblivious Reverend Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is falling apart: his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) is lonely and looking for solace with the golf instructor (Patrick Swayze), his daughter is running wild, and his son is being bullied at school. When the new housekeeper, Grace (Maggie Smith), arrives, things begin to look up for the Goodfellows as problems seem to miraculously disappear. What they don't realize is that 43 years ago, Grace was responsible for clearing up a problem of her own in a most interesting way.In this disturbingly entertaining black comedy, the veteran cast display their excellent acting skills. Atkinson is particularly great, and it's hard to find a better actress than Dame Maggie Smith. The story line was engaging from the beginning and flowed with good timing. The humor is not going to be for everyone, but I often found it laugh-out-loud funny. Overall, while I can't give it a universal recommendation, it was an enjoyable film for those who appreciate the twisted British wit.

This a very easy to watch and enjoyable comedy film with a good cast. Sadly Emilia Fox only played a very small part in it. Set in a small village, the vicar and his wife hires a nanny who turns out to be not quite what they expected, and has some very funny moments. Kristin Scott Thomas acted her part brilliantly, she looked so natural and deserves and award for her part. The couple have a young son being bullied at school and a nymphomaniac daughter. Rowan Atkinson appearing in a film means that it must be a comedy and he never let us down, although the film did have a dark side to it with unexpected ending. A good family film,

I went to see "Johnny English", a 2003 spy spoof starring Rowan Atkinson, in the theatre, and thought it was very funny (that wasn't quite the case when I last watched it on the small screen nearly four years later, but it certainly was in the theatre), and I remember for a while after that year, he didn't seem to have any upcoming film appearances in sight. However, that changed when "Keeping Mum" was announced. I remember first hearing about this film around the time it was confirmed, and the return of Atkinson was good news to me. This dark comedy was released in the U.K. in 2005, but since I'm North American, I had to wait for a while after that, and ended up finally seeing it in early 2007. With that first viewing, it was an 8/10 for me, and it seems a second viewing several years later hasn't changed that.Walter Goodfellow is a pastor in the small English village of Little Wallop. He has a wife named Gloria, a teenage daughter named Holly, and a younger son named Petey. Lately, Walter has been so busy with his work that he has been neglecting his family, while there is much trouble among the other three members of the household. Gloria is being kept awake by a neighbour's dog barking outside every night, and her husband's neglect is making her sexually frustrated, causing her to have an affair with her golf instructor, the sex-hungry Lance. To add to the family trouble, Holly is going through a rebellious phase and is letting her libido get the best of her, and Petey is constantly being bullied by a group of boys at school. The Goodfellows get a new housekeeper, an elderly woman who is supposedly named Grace Hawkins, and she intends to help the dysfunctional family. Things certainly begin to change with her around, but the Goodfellows don't know much about this woman and her way of solving problems! Walter may be an unusually subdued character for Rowan Atkinson to play, not like the bitter, nasty Blackadder or the goofy Mr. Bean, but the comedian still manages to pull it off, and provides some of the laughs the film has to offer, such as the part showing the character practicing his sermon, pretending God is criticizing it, and then being startled by Grace's presence. However, "Keeping Mum" certainly doesn't rely entirely on him for the laughs. Kristin Scott Thomas is very often funny as the irritable Gloria, starting when this character first appears in the film, as we see her annoyed by the barking dog and then discovering that Holly is making out in a van outside. The late Patrick Swayze's comical performance as the sleazy Lance character also works very well, as we see him on his cell phone thinking he's talking to Gloria when Grace is actually the one on the other end, among other scenes. Dame Maggie Smith as Grace Hawkins is not a performance to forget. I can't think of a single lacklustre performance in the film, and in addition to the laughs (some big, some small), there's also some good tension in this well-written story, plus some scenic filming locations in England and on the Isle of Man.In the five years since its original British release, this 2005 crime comedy seems to have entertained a lot of people, but has also received its share of criticism, and certainly doesn't have the reputation of being one of the British comedy masterpieces. It's quite a dark comedy, with a fair amount of killing in the story, and as much as this has impressed many viewers, it could also put a lot of people off. Of course, there are also bound to be others who are not necessarily put off by the darkness of it, but just don't find it funny. Still, "Keeping Mum" has now impressed me twice, making me laugh and also putting me in suspense at times, and it's strange how much of the movie I couldn't remember from my first viewing. This includes everything after a certain point later on in the film, even though these parts most certainly didn't seem forgettable when I saw them for the second time! Anyway, overall, while it's not an amazing piece of comedy, and I'm not sure if I completely get it even after seeing it twice, I would still say this is a good film for many of those who want a dark comedy thriller.

I basically used the summary of another review since it fits the film well. This film is seriously entertaining in a British sort of way. That is, it focuses on some quirky sorts doing outrageous things that on some level is not assumed to be that big of a deal. Well, at least, by some people in the film. And, it focuses on mostly average sorts, not "the beautiful people." Finally, as a bit of an aside, it has a comfort level with sex that American films often do not (I'm reminded of a Canadian film that I just watched -- "The War Bride," which had a think nothing of it full frontal nudity scene involving a bath. It fit the times and character and was not dirty or anything. Just run of the mill adult fare.) The film concerns a kindly but absentminded vicar (Rowan Atkinson, nicely low key here) in a small British town with a cutesy name, his wife loves him but is bored with their marriage, so is planning to have an affair. The wife (Kristin Scott Thomas, notably plain looking here) is in fact apparently an orphan. She is also having problems with her children, including her oversexed daughter and picked on son. A new kindly nanny (Maggie Smith, very good too) helps out here in all respects (including showing the vicar the charms of the Songs of Solomon), but turns out to have a secret.It's amusing, wickedly so often enough, and enjoyable on a character level. You like these people (well maybe not Patrick Swayze, playing a heel -- well he is American! -- perfectly) and that is part of the charm.