Keeping Mum reminded me of the great Alec Guinness/Ealing Studio comedies of the 1950s, especially The Lady Killers. They were always funny, but had a dark ironic edge around every joke. Maggie Smith lives up to that tradition as the quiet, kindly, generous housekeeper with a penchant for murder.
It isn’t a rolling on the floor laugh out loud comedy. It is a quieter, more restrained kind of humor and I think it may turn off people who aren’t used to this kind of comedy. But I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Patrick Swayze is perfect as the sleazy golf pro hitting on every woman he sees. Kristin Scott Thomas plays the part of the frustrated housewife whose sensitive son is constantly beat up by the school bullies, and daughter sleeps with any boy with a pulse and a husband who shows no interest in her.
The real find in this movie is Rowan Atkinson, who actually acts here. Gone is the disturbing and not funny rubber-faced Mr. Bean. He actually plays a real character and - guess what - he carries it off. I was amazed because he usually finds himself hanging on such a huge, strange, physical quirk that he thinks will make everyone laugh that it turns out not to be funny at all. When he finally tells a joke in the movie it turns out to be funny, because he just tells it well, without pratfalls and strange grimaces.
But the movie revolves around Maggie Smith as the murderous version of Mary Poppins, who believes that sometimes the best way to deal with a tiresome obstacle is to remove it entirely.
Sadly, the movie unravels in the final 15 minutes. It is unable to sustain the delicate chaotic balance it has held through most of the story. But it is worth seeing for everything that comes before.