Maggie Smith is the real star of this very old-fashioned British comedy. She plays a sweet old homicidal maniac, who comes to work as a housekeeper for a set-in-his-ways vicar (Rowan Atkinson) in the parish of Little Wallop (a dinky little English village). The vicar's frustrated wife (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is about to embark on an affair with her golf instructor, Patrick Swayze (hilarious). What she doesn't know is that mad Maggie will literally kill to prevent this. This is a jolly, quite black comedy of the scale usually reserved for TV except here it's got a decent budget, and is very lushly photographed with an American feel to its production values. It has a leisurely pace, a rather self-conscious charm, and some fairly obvious gags, but Maggie Smith (in a more restrained mode than usual) has some excellent moments. My main problem is my allergy to Rowan Atkinson, who, while adequate, seems wasted here playing a cardiganed innocent. Miss Scott-Thomas however, is, as always, entirely charming.
Review of Keeping Mum
