The best part of this film was the very final scene showing the resting place of the over-zealous pond doctors! Now that DID make me laugh ! My global appreciation remains positive, picture quality is very good and the sets which were shot in Cornwall, England were magnificent. The choice of title was excellent. The sound track was memorable and well suited to the film. I had never seen Rowan Atkinson in any other film outside the Mr Bean series, so it was interesting to see him in another register, albeit a fairly weak one. But he carries his rôle off to perfection. The film has a type of humour rather special and will only appeal to a limited section of the worlds population. The closest I could find to it was the Ealing comedies "Ladykillers" and "Kind Hearts and Coronets", so one must assume that the film is destined to British audiences to be appreciated. I cannot see this appealing to the Americans or the French as their sense of humour is much more basic and slapstick-orientated ( Jerry Lewis "tarte à la crème" style ). It's not the Mr Bean humour either as that is mostly gesticulatory with little oral participation. As to the plot, it is reasonably interesting although it can be more or less guessed from the outset, add to this that I do like most of the actors, Swayze a little less in a comedic rôle but Maggie Smith and KST were both memorable in their performances. I have only watched the film once and reserve my final judgement for after 2 or 3 viewings. Definitely a useful addition to today's ever-growing number of films !
Review of Keeping Mum
