April 7, 2007
Keeping Mum.
is the story of Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson), the vicar for the small English country parish of Little Wallop, has allowed his marriage to Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) go stale and he is so detached from his family that he has not taken notice that his 17-year-old daughter Holly is going through a succession of inappropriate relationships with unsuitable boyfriends and his son Petey fears going to school due to being bullied. Out of desperation for affection, Gloria begins to fall for the advances of Lance (Patrick Swayze), the American golf pro that is giving her "private" lessons. The problems upsetting the family start to fade away after Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith), the new housekeeper, arrives and starts tending to matters as an older, and rather darkly mysterious version of Mary Poppins.
This movie is quite funny, dark and humorous.
Grace Hawkins had been convicted 40 years ago of killing her husband and his mistress. When she is set free, she goes to work for the Goodfellow family who are having a ton of problems in their lives.
Grace takes matters into her own hands to get this family back on track, and the way she does it, is in her own "special way".
Maggie Smith is simply wonderful as Grace. I love her as an actress, her work is always splendid to watch.
There's a family plot twist that is not revealed till near the end, but it explains why Grace is doing all the things she does.
This movie is a good time, full of laughs, interesting characters, not a bad way to spend a few hours.
Keeping Mum