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Keeping Mum (2005)

tomatometer

56

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 85
Fresh: 48 | Rotten: 37

The stellar cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas and Dame Maggie Smith, is certainly an asset, but this black comedy is too uneven.

60

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 25
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 10

The stellar cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas and Dame Maggie Smith, is certainly an asset, but this black comedy is too uneven.

audience

73

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 21,180

My Rating

Movie Info

Niall Johnson's comedy Keeping Mum concerns the family of a vicar who are beset by a variety of problems. Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but hapless religious figure in his town. His son, Petey, is a wimp, forever terrorized at school. His daughter, Holly, enjoys the company of a variety of different boyfriends. Wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) has had enough of her husband and is considering leaving him for a golf teacher (Patrick Swayze). The family starts to

R, 1 hr. 43 min.

Comedy

Niall Johnson, Richard Russo

Feb 20, 2007

$1.5M

ThinkFilm

Cast

All Critics (91) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (37) | DVD (3)

A dark comedy that isn't dark or particularly funny, Keeping Mum ends up being an exercise in heavy-handed whimsy.

October 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A meek little diversion, nothing more.

October 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A modest comedy that wants to be both dark and reassuring at the same time.

October 13, 2006 Comment
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bracket out the ethical concerns of making merry as the body count mysteriously rises and Keeping Mum is an endearing hoot.

October 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Denver Post | Comment
Denver Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's probably one of the funniest films to come out of England in years.

October 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
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Smith is an absolute delight, exuding grandmotherly warmth even as she's picking her next target.

October 5, 2006 Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Don't expect Rowan Atkinson in full Bean or Blackadder flight: this is much more delicate Country Life comeuppance at the hands of a deliciously dark fairy godmother.

July 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Screenwize | Comment
Screenwize

Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean") plays straight-man Reverend Walter Goodfellow to Grace Hawkins (acted with keen wit by Maggie Smith) his genteel serial-killer housekeeper in this delicious British black comedy.

April 20, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

An insufferable British dark comedy in the tradition of other happy-horseshit classics

August 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | Comment
Film Freak Central

The problem with Keeping Mum is that the slaughter is very real and, worse, the victims are often innocent or otherwise undeserving of their fate.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

I would have loved for these characters to have a different plot to stretch out in. However, this story is obvious, pedestrian, warm and pleasant, but mostly a tragic waste of some tremendous resources.

January 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Cinerina | Comment

It has all the edge, darkness and wit one expects from the storied genre of British dark comedy.

January 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

Director Niall Johnson, who collaborated on the script withRichard Russo deserves kudos for maintaining the tenor and tone of the film. A black comedy such as KEEPING MUM requires a very specific touch and Johnson handles the material with aplomb.

January 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | Comment
Murphy's Movie Reviews

The British countryside provides a pretty framework, unfortunately the picture inside doesn't fit the bill.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine

Disappointing British black comedy.

December 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

...the film gets by -- just barely -- on the powerhouse combination of Atkinson, Thomas and Smith...

December 4, 2006 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

The warped fun is enhanced by two performances - one that is expected and one that's a delightful surprise.

November 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | Comment
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

...Features a great cast and a witty script that should help it appeal to even those who aren't as enamored of British films as I am.

November 11, 2006 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Three Movie Buffs

I'll match Grace's way with a meat cleaver and a shovel against Mary's spoonful of sugar every time.

November 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

There's something immoral about a film that asks us to chuckle at the naughty murders of innocent people and then expects our hearts to swell when a husband and wife affirm their holy union. 'Saw III' has more integrity.

November 6, 2006 Comment
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

One of those frothy films photographed in the quaint English countryside that yearns to be a word-of-mouth hit, but is too thin and predictable when it should be rich in nuance and off-kilter.

November 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Comment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

...a disappointingly pat bit of Brit comedy that suffers by comparison to the postwar black Ealing comedies it evokes.

November 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Comment
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Keeping Mum

i love this movie, i find it so funny and its the best british comedy of the year!! i love the cast and i love the story its thoroughly entertaining!! Maggie smith plays a murderer who has gotten out of prison/mental facility and has come to visit her daughter but without literally telling her daughter so shes come as

July 22, 2008
FiLmCrAzY
Film Crazy

Super Reviewer

I liked this film although I'm not sure it knows what it wants to be. It's both predictable and unpredictable and more dark than it is funny. Maybe I was lead astray by the poster and the choice of actors. It was refreshing in its unpredictable moments but I felt there was very little pay off at the end. I found the

October 2, 2009
SirPant

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

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