Johnson struggles to find the proper tone: the serial murders aren’t horrible enough to be funny, and the characters don’t respond as if they’re horrible at all. As a result the black humor thins into gray fog.

| Jun 23, 2022

It's slight but charming, and fun in places, with the veteran actors just managing to keep the undisciplined screenplay on track until the grisly end.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 5, 2021

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.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 30, 2009

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.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 20, 2009

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

| Original Score: 0.5/4 | Aug 7, 2007

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.

| Mar 1, 2007

The plot twists aren't exactly hard to ferret out, and the characters aren't particularly deep, but the actors give the movie enough charm to coast by on.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 26, 2007

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.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 31, 2007

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

| Original Score: B | Jan 19, 2007

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.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 11, 2007

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

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

Disappointing British black comedy.

| Original Score: C | Dec 13, 2006

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 4, 2006

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

| Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 17, 2006

...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.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 11, 2006

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

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 10, 2006

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 6, 2006

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.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 3, 2006

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

Full Review | Original Score: 76/100 | Nov 3, 2006

The Ealing of yore is gone, and Guiness, ex-ladykiller, is now and forever, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Here's mud in your eye.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2006