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Contains strong language and moderate nudity
Waking Ned meets Serial Mom in the genial and genuinely funny British black comedy Keeping Mum, about a serial-killing old dear in genteel rural England. Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith deliver wonderful performances as bored housewife and homicidal housekeeper respectively, while Rowan Atkinson gives his most subtle turn in years as a vicar who saves his passion for the Sunday sermon. There's also the sight of Patrick Swayze in a tight red thong, but don't let that put you off.
Adapted seamlessly from its original American setting by writer/director Niall Johnson (novelist Richard Russo penned the initial script), Keeping Mum manages to be both reassuringly familiar and surprisingly fresh. Apart from the witty script, the secret to its success lies in its offbeat casting. Scott Thomas loosens her stiff upper lip and clearly relishes playing Gloria Goodfellow, a wife and mother who's thinking about playing around with a sleazy golf instructor (Swayze) and abandoning her inert husband Walter (Atkinson), the vicar of Little Wallop (don't worry, nothing else is quite so twee).
"HILARIOUSLY BLOODTHIRSTY SOLUTIONS"
If she's the main draw, there's also a comedy masterclass to behold from Maggie Smith. The redoubtable screen veteran combines the sweetness of a doting grandmother with looks that kill and hilariously bloodthirsty solutions to everyday problems such as school bullies and yappy dogs. Mainstream British comedies are notoriously difficult to get right - too often they're simply poor copies of Hollywood pap - which is why Keeping Mum really is something to shout about.
