Keeping Mum (2005) Movie Information:
| Keeping Mum (2005) Directed by: |
 Niall Johnson |
| Keeping Mum (2005) Written by: |
| Niall Johnson, Richard Russo |
| Keeping Mum (2005) Cast: |
| Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze, Emilia Fox, Liz Smith, Tamsin Egerton, James Booth, Toby Parkes, Jack Ryan |
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Keeping Mum (2005) Synopsis:
The sleepy English hamlet of Little Wallop is about to receive a rude awakening, as the absent-minded Reverend Walter Goodman (Rowan Atkinson), his dissatisfied wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas), and their two children, Holly and Petey, await the arrival of their new housekeeper, Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith). Gloria is a woman struggling to cope. Her teenage daughter's a nymphomaniac, her young son's the perennial target for the local bullies, and her marriage to Walter has long-since dwindled into monotony. It's no wonder she's failing to resist the advances of her handsome, American, lothario of a golf pro, Lance (Patrick Swayze). What this family needs is salvation. And fast. It comes in the form of "Grace Hawkins", a gentle motherly woman with a smile for everyone and an answer for everything. But Grace is not all she seems...
Keeping Mum (2005) 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.
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Keeping Mum (2005) review written by: Rich Cline
