Rather dark, decidedly English and exceedingly well played, Keeping Mum is a neatly crafted black comedy with more than a nod in tone toward the Ealing classic "The Ladykillers."
Keeping Mum
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, United States, Isle Of Man · 2005
Rated R · 1h 43m
Director Niall Johnson
Starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze
Genre Comedy
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A pastor preoccupied with writing the perfect sermon fails to realize that his wife is having an affair and his children are up to no good.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
A giddy black comedy about a homicidal housekeeper in rural England, is a hilarious reminder of that 1944 Frank Capra classic about two old maids whose cellar is cluttered with the bodies of would-be suitors.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
She's no Mary Poppins: Maggie Smith is more like a cheery Angel of Death in the light black comedy Keeping Mum, one of those dutifully daft British diddles (complete with Rowan Atkinson as a vicar) that, except for the blunt sex talk, might have been constructed decades ago.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Director and cowriter Niall Johnson's black comedy falters at the end, but until then it manages to wring gentle humor from murder most well bred.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Obvious, simplistic, and never funny, Johnson's movie may be useful only as real estate porn--Cornwall and the Isle of Man never looked so super cute.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips
Only the architecturally refined bone structure of Kristin Scott Thomas' face rescues Keeping Mum from full-on tedium.
Keeping Mum never really gets going, and it inches to the finish line like a narcoleptic turtle.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
It’s refreshing to see Dame Maggie in a lighter mode than usual. The role of a genteel psychopath is a piece of lemon tea cake she consumes in one delicate bite.
Dame Maggie is simply delightful (has she ever been less than wonderful?).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by William Arnold
The script (by Richard Russo) is solid, the performances are witty and fun, and the movie is a most agreeable way to spend an hour and a half.
Users who liked this film also liked
My Best Friend
(Mon Meilleur Ami)
François’s business partner bets him that he does not have a best friend—now he has ten days to find one.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2006
- Director Patrice Leconte
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Henri Garcin, Jacques Mathou
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Amazon Video, Apple TV
Barefoot
(Barfuß)
- ✭
- Germany • 2005
- Director Til Schweiger
- Cast Til Schweiger, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Tiller, Michael Mendl, Steffen Wink, Alexandra Neldel
- Genre Romance, Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Girls on Top
(Mädchen Mädchen!)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2001
- Director Dennis Gansel
- Cast Diana Amft, Karoline Herfurth, Felicitas Woll, Andreas Christ, Max Riemelt, Arzu Bazman
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ladies in Lavender
Aging spinster sisters discover a wounded young man on the beach by their home in a remote fishing village.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2004
- Director Charles Dance
- Cast Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Brühl, Freddie Jones, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Miriam Margolyes
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee, Hoopla
Big Nothing
They wrote the book on how not to be criminals.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2006
- Director Jean-Baptiste Andrea
- Cast David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg, Natascha McElhone, Jon Polito, Mimi Rogers, William Rosenfeld
- Genre Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tea with Mussolini
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, United Kingdom • 1999
- Director Franco Zeffirelli
- Cast Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Cher, Judi Dench, Lily Tomlin, Baird Wallace
- Genre Comedy, Drama, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Timecrimes
(Los cronocrímenes)
After accidentally traveling back in time, Hector must stop a murder before it happens.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2007
- Director Nacho Vigalondo
- Cast Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga, Nacho Vigalondo, Juan Inciarte, Libby Brien
- Genre Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, FlixFling, Crackle, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, DistroTV, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Beautiful Creatures
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2000
- Director Bill Eagles
- Cast Rachel Weisz, Susan Lynch, Iain Glen, Jake D'Arcy, Tom Mannion, Maurice Roëves
- Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Man on the Train
(L'Homme du train)
A poet and a thief with nothing in common are about to trade their lives for a chance to cheat their destinies.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United Kingdom, Germany • 2002
- Director Patrice Leconte
- Cast Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Pascal Parmentier, Isabelle Petit-Jacques, Edith Scob, Maurice Chevit
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Spider-Plant Man
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2005
- Director
- Cast Rowan Atkinson, Rachel Stevens, Tony Robinson, Jim Broadbent, Mackenzie Crook, Nick Frost
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Sixty Six
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United Kingdom • 2006
- Director Paul Weiland
- Cast Eddie Marsan, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Rea, Catherine Tate, Peter Serafinowicz, Geraldine Somerville
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mission: Monte Carlo
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1974
- Director Basil Dearden, Roy Ward Baker
- Cast Roger Moore, Tony Curtis, Terence Alexander, Annette Andre, Susan George, Laurence Naismith
- Genre Adventure, Crime
- Available on Tubi TV
To Catch a Virgin Ghost
(시실리 2km)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2004
- Director Shin Jung-won
- Cast Im Chang-jung, Kwon Oh-joong, Shin Yi, Lim Eun-kyung, Byun Hee-bong, Park Myung-shin
- Genre Comedy, Horror
- Available on No streaming locations found.
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
(김비서가 왜 그럴까)
An arrogant company executive is shocked when his trusted personal secretary quits her job
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2018
- Creator Jung Eun-Young, Park Joon-Hwa
- Cast Park Seo-jun, Park Min-young, Lee Tae-hwan, Pyo Ye-jin, Kim Hye-ok, Kim Byeong-ok
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Hulu, Rakuten Viki
A-1 Headline
(A-1頭條)
Never Let the Truth Become the Headline
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Hong Kong • 2004
- Director Gordon Chan, Rico Chung Kai-Cheong
- Cast Anthony Wong, Angelica Lee, Edison Chen, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Eric Kot Man-Fai, Gordon Lam
- Genre Drama, Action, Thriller, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Phantom Light
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1935
- Director Michael Powell
- Cast Binnie Hale, Gordon Harker, Donald Calthrop, Milton Rosmer, Ian Hunter, Herbert Lomas
- Genre Thriller, Mystery
- Available on No streaming locations found.
My Old Lady
An American travels to Paris to sell the apartment his father left him, but finds out that its tenant has the right to stay until her death.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, United States • 2014
- Director Israel Horovitz
- Cast Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dominique Pinon, Michael Burstin
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Prince
(Prins)
In order to catch the eye of a beautiful girl, Ayoub falls in with a psychotically violent local criminal.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Netherlands • 2015
- Director Sam de Jong
- Cast Ayoub Elasri, Oussama Addi, Achraf Meziani, Elsie de Brauw, Sigrid ten Napel
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Schweinskopf al dente
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2016
- Director Ed Herzog
- Cast Sebastian Bezzel, Simon Schwarz, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Gregor Bloéb, Enzi Fuchs, Eisi Gulp
- Genre Comedy, Crime
- Available on No streaming locations found.