Smith is an absolute delight, exuding grandmotherly warmth even as she's picking her next target.
Comment
10/05/06
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Keeping Mum (2006)
56
%
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:48
Rotten:37
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: The stellar cast, including Kristin Scott Thomas and Dame Maggie Smith, is certainly an asset, but this black comedy is too uneven.
Theatrical Release:Sep 15, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $1,467,021
Synopsis: KEEPING MUM stars Atkinson as an absent-minded vicar of a rural parish who is so distracted by the pressures of his job that he fails to notice his wife's (Thomas) dalliance with her brash golf... [More]
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze
Director: Niall Johnson
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Reviews for Keeping Mum
Keeping Mum isn't a great film, but it's a right pleasant one, sometimes downright funny.
09/30/06
The few smiles the picture generates are overcome by the revulsion of some truly disgusting deeds.
09/29/06
Top CriticThose fond of films set in quaint, remote British towns (this one's named Little Wallup), or really any film in which the divine Smith purses her lips, will find much to enjoy here.
09/29/06
It's always a treat to watch Maggie Smith up to her old scene-stealing tricks.
09/29/06
Top CriticA charm parade of serial death in the old, cherishable line of The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets, though more cozily pastoral, the film rouses chuckles.
09/29/06
Keeping Mum can't decide if it's a black comedy or a touching emotional journey; trying to be both at once just doesn't work.
09/29/06
As we wait in anticipation and wait, and wait, what initially appears as subtle humour gradually emerges as very little humour at all.
09/29/06
Smith, along with the rest of the cast, rises above and turns the thinly scripted dark comedy into an amusing and enjoyable British romp.
09/29/06
The screenplay by the novelist Richard Russo and Niall Johnson, who directed, is half hearted and too casual to be rousing. You're desperate for a surprise.
09/29/06
Top Critic...goes down easily enough, though it draws chuckles more than laughs.
09/29/06
The latest in a long line of 'quirky little English village' comedies is charming enough, but Keeping Mum doesn't break any new ground.
09/29/06
Keeping Mum has an agreeably twisted plot that's compromised throughout by leaden pacing and a fatal attack of the cutes.
09/29/06
The actors all strike just the right tone to carry off the black comedy.
09/29/06
Top CriticWhere Ealing comedies used to have full command of irony, Keeping Mum is weirdly clueless.
09/28/06
Top CriticSaves its best for last -- and God bless Maggie Smith for, well, being Maggie Smith -- but that requires sitting through a frustrating, uneven hour of sluggish preamble.
09/28/06
Top CriticThe script (by Richard Russo) is solid, the performances are witty and fun, and the movie is a most agreeable way to spend an hour and a half.
09/28/06
No heavy lifting here (except for a few stiff bodies), but Keeping Mum has a macabre merriment about it.
09/28/06
Not even such wily scene-thieves as Smith and Atkinson can salvage much of the silliness.
09/28/06
Top CriticSucceed[s] in recreating the simple pleasures of the old Ealing comedies, which let talented character actors shine.
09/28/06
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