I'm not sure that this film can really be classed a "black comedy." It's more like an episode of one of those saccharine family drama/comedies, "Seventh Heaven," maybe, with a little black comedy thrown in.
Rowan Atkinson is actually playing a dramatic part and the closest thing we get to laughs from him is stumbling over the word "God" at a vicars' convention. Patrick Swayze's character, on the other hand, is essentially a total caricature. Tamsin Egerton has nothing to do except flash her breasts, creating a weird hypocrisy in re: judgments on the sleazy peeper. Maggie Smith (it's AMAZING how she is able to reference her earlier incarnation as Rosie Jones) is perfect, and Kristin Scott Thomas demonstrates what she could do - if this film were consistently plotted as a comedy! The end of Mrs. Parker is essentially wasted, and the film just hasn't created the basis for the final scene - we needed a lot more on those landscapers!!!
The film just isn't funny enough, begging a desperately unequal comparison to Nanny McPhee. Anybody who thinks this mild farce references the Ealing comedies needs to go right out and rent "The Ladykillers" or "Kind Hearts and Coronets" to learn what consistency in comedy plotting REALLY means!
There are some funny moments here, but you'll get more out of watching a Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple!
Rowan Atkinson is actually playing a dramatic part and the closest thing we get to laughs from him is stumbling over the word "God" at a vicars' convention. Patrick Swayze's character, on the other hand, is essentially a total caricature. Tamsin Egerton has nothing to do except flash her breasts, creating a weird hypocrisy in re: judgments on the sleazy peeper. Maggie Smith (it's AMAZING how she is able to reference her earlier incarnation as Rosie Jones) is perfect, and Kristin Scott Thomas demonstrates what she could do - if this film were consistently plotted as a comedy! The end of Mrs. Parker is essentially wasted, and the film just hasn't created the basis for the final scene - we needed a lot more on those landscapers!!!
The film just isn't funny enough, begging a desperately unequal comparison to Nanny McPhee. Anybody who thinks this mild farce references the Ealing comedies needs to go right out and rent "The Ladykillers" or "Kind Hearts and Coronets" to learn what consistency in comedy plotting REALLY means!
There are some funny moments here, but you'll get more out of watching a Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple!