Keeping Mum (2005) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

UK 2005
Director: Niall Johnson
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, James Booth, Patrick Swayze, Tamsin Egerton, Toby Parkes, Liz Smith, Emilia Fox
Rating: R
Release Date: 2 December 2005
Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes

The Movie Review

Keeping Mum film still 1


KEEPING MUM
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Admit it. Some of us just could not deal with household works, it's a lot better to be a potato couch sometimes. So the lucky ones amongst us could hire a housekeeper to do those time-consuming chores. But where can we go to solve acute family problems? Hmm, hire a hyper housekeeper? Wonder if that rare breed of housekeeper does exist, whew what a simpler life we would have. Anyhow..., Keeping Mum is about that housekeeper. One freakin' awesome one with a psycho-quality of coolness.

The movie opens with a lovely pregnant young woman riding on a train. Her name is Rosie (Emilia Fox) and from her trunk the officers find blood leaking. Afterwards she's sent to a secure unit for criminally insane. Her expression is always as calm as sipping a cup of tea in the morning. For Rosie, dealing with problems is easy, anything wicked enough should get slaughtered. We are then taken to see a small populated and peaceful village of Little Wallop, at a small comfy house where a family is currently expecting a housekeeper, but her large trunk has arrived first and tagged with the name "Grace Hawkins" written on it. It is the home of Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson). Walter is a good man who lives with loving-but-lonely-soon-will-cheat-on-him wife, Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas), a nymphomaniac daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton) and a boy, Petey (Toby Parkes) who always got bullied at school. The awaited housekeeper finally arrives, the 60-something woman has this sympathetic and calming attitude. Is it a coincidence that after Grace is staying at the Goodfellow's, every problem is solved?

Keeping Mum is another British comedy mixed up with thriller, and a good one indeed. British filmmakers often produced this mixed genre, and usually the results came up good. Keeping Mum is not an exception, it's a good one for sure, it's just that maybe it won't cater to the taste of majority moviegoers. The pace is although kind of a drag, but the elements of thriller and comedy are coming gradually and evenly throughout the whole running length. The main reason to watch this, is "You really want to watch it", because to appreciate the overall taste of Keeping Mum, it requires you to sit back and enjoy the slow pace of the movie. Good things will come along the way, still for some viewers, it's just too slow. But now, now, just be patient kids, one twist near the end is a worth watching and that's when the story is kicked up to be more exciting to follow.

This comedy flick doesn't entirely left out character building. And I had a hard time to distinguish between good and evil, you root for the evil because she does it for good causes, and because some of the evil deeds she does are off-screen. You don't get many visuals in Keeping Mum, instead the director/screenwriter opens the possibility for your own interpretations. Nothing wooden or over-the-top coming from the entire cast, every actor plays the character well. And in this movie you have the chance to see Rowan Atkinson talk and act seriously as oppose to his wacky/dirty/slapstick-y TV series, Mr. Bean, and at least his character is well written unlike in Rat Race. Patrcik Swayze as the main antagonist could deliver a despicable character who is both perverted and sleazy. And good acting aside, there is a bonus of two brief nudity scenes for male viewers, ehem, those two brief scenes are actually the flaw of this somber comedy, since they are forced and serve mainly as unnecessary shock elements, but boy does Tamsin Egerton is one sexy actress.

At the core, Keeping Mum is about payback, payback in a good ol' fashioned way with eye for an eye type of revenge (sort of). She's just like the other side of the moon of Maria in The Sound of Music, although both shares the same good intention with the family they're living with, but their methods are extremely different. I like Grace better though. It's just a shame that the story doesn't hold the secret long enough and decide to lay it out open for the audience in a quite rushed timing which...almost ruin the suspense that the movie contains. But then again who is who and what is what could be easily guessed without having the screenwriter telling us.

I honestly thought this movie would be a total bore, gladly it's not, instead it's full of clever lines of dialogue and the scenes are not too comical. The final scene is predictable, but as predictable as it is, it fits the overall tone of the movie. Keeping Mum is all about subtlety, a deadly subtlety I might add. I must give fellow moviegoers a heads up that this comedy movie is not the one to watch with your friends, I think it's best to be enjoyed on a lazy afternoon and followed by a nice comfy nap, on your couch of course.