| Product: |
Keeping Mum (DVD) |
| Date: |
14/01/07 (158 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: good cast and storyline
Disadvantages: a little bit predictable
'Keeping Mum' tells the story of the Reverand Walter Goodbody, played by Rowan Atkinson, his wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) and their family, and the strange goings on that occur in their parish of Little Wallop after they take on their new housekeeper, Grace, played admirably by Maggie Smith.
The film starts with a flashback to a train journey in 1963 where we see a young pregnant woman travelling alone. There is something very peculiar about her luggage, which is spotted by the guard, causing her journey to come to an abrupt end! I shall say no more about this at this stage, as the relevance is only discovered towards the end of the film.
Then, after the opening credits, the film moves to the present day and to the village of Little Wallop. The story centres on the rather disfunctional Goodboby family. Walter is, to put it mildly, boring. Engrossed in his parish duties he has little time for his wife or his family. Gloria is definitely disenchanted with her lot - her husband hardly pays her any attention, her teenage daughter, Holly, is a raving nymphomaniac and her son, Petey, is timid and being bullied at school. Her only pleasure in life are her golf lessons with the local pro (Patrick Swayze).
Enter the arena, Grace, who has taken on the post of the new housekeeper. On first appearance she is a gentle mild mannered old lady, but she does seem to have a way of making things happen, and she certainly seems to be a good influence on the Goodbody family who actually start bahaving like a family should. Walter even gets a sense of humour! The neighbour's dog, which keeps Gloria awake suddenly stops barking at night, Petey's intimidators get their come uppance, but on the other hand people start disappearing!
I do not want to say too much more so as not to reveal the plot, only to say that Grace starts a chain of events which have quite a startling effect on the family! This leads to some pretty big revelations towards the end that actually bring the family together. You also see the relevance of the opening, if you have not actually guessed it, at this point!
I would say that this film is a gentle enjoyable comedy. It was not as hilarious as I would have expected with Rowan Atkinson in the cast, but it is enjoyable although at times predictable as well.
All the lead roles are good, although it is interesting to see Rowan Atkinson playing a much straighter role for him - no screwed up faces or strange noises! I really enjoyed Maggie Smith's performance which I thought was nicely understated. It was interesting to see Patrick Swayze, who I hadn't seen much of since the days of 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Ghost'. I guess his was the role of older heartthrob, but it didn't really do it for me! My favourite was Liz Smith, who played a lovely and very funny cameo role, as the chair of the flower arranging society, who keeps wanting to have a word with Walter at the most inopportune moments!
The action moves along at a fairly steady pace. There are no rip roaringly funny moments but there is an underlying humour which I like. On the DVD cover there is a quote from The Times saying that it is one of the best british comedies in recent years! I don't think I would go as far as that, but it is enjoyable.
There are quite a lot of extras with the DVD as well. These include:
Director's commentary
Behind the scenes - Big Trouble in Little Wallop
Deleted scenes
Outtakes
and An alternative opening.
All of these are quite entertaining and add to the overall enjoyment.
So my opinion is that this film was entertaining and amusing. A good film to stay in and watch on a Friday Night, but not one that I feel I will be watching too often! As it has been out for a while we managed to get out copy from Amazon for only £2.84 which I thought was a real bargain!
Summary: An entertaining and enjoyable comedy
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