Dir. Niall Johnson
Writ. Niall Johnson, Richard Russo
Act. Rowan Atkinson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Smith

This is quite an odd little movie, perhaps the definition of a dark comedy, and I like it. It is British but hey it also has Rowan Atkinson and there is some nudity but I am somewhat traumatized by the nudity but I will save that for latter. If you like dark comedies and Atkinson then this is a must rent movie for you.

Rev. Walter Goodfellow, played by Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English,) is a minister of a church in a very small town who has become set in his ways and somewhat oblivious to what is going on with his family. His wife Gloria, played by Kristen Scott Thomas (Gosford Park,) is having an affair with her golf pro Lance, played by Patrick Swayze (Donnie Darko,) his 17 year old daughter Holly is banging every teenage boy in the county and his son is getting his but kicked by the school bullies everyday. However to help around the house, Walter hires a housekeeper Grace, played by Maggie Smith (Harry Potter movies,) who has a very dark and wicked past. She brings a sense of stability to the household but animals and people start to disappear around the neighborhood and Gloria begins to wonder what Grace has to do with it.

I was mildly surprised by the movie in that after the first fifteen minutes it gave you the obvious relationship between Grace and the family. But I was wrong, and I think the writer planned I that way, which adds to richness of this dark comedy. It is hard to imagine laughing at murder and death and deception but it is wonderfully done in this movie and the ending is even better. I give kudos to screenwriters Niall Johnson and Richard Russo.

I thought all of the actors were wonderful and that Rowan Atkinson and Maggie Smith both stood out. Rowan was wonderful playing the slightly dimwitted minister and I loved him when he was in the goal of a charity soccer game. I will say that I was somewhat disturbed by the sex scene that he instigated with Thomas, I can't imagine Black Adder as any kind of sexual being so it was kind of like watching a car accident, you wont to avert your eyes but you can't. Maggie Smith looked like she had fun with the macabre Grace Hawkins. She was a wonderfully written character and Smith excelled in the part. A very wicked cross between Mary Poppins and Alfred the Butler.

The one thing that traumatized me was that we got to see Holly, the daughter in the movie, topless a couple of times. Now normally I am very happy to offer a grade on the nudity and on the breasts themselves but as I was getting info for the movie I discovered that the actress playing Holly, Tamsin Egerton is 18 this year and will turn 19 in November. This film was released in 2005, in the United Kingdom Dec 2, which means she had just turned 17. See where I am going with this? Assuming that they fimed the movie in early 2005, I am looking at the breasts of a 16 year old. Is that legal in England? Anyway its disturbing so I don't get to enjoy the nudity, damn it.

Anyway, I like this movie and it should be enjoyed by one and all. Go rent it and remember that it is not nice to cheat on your husband/wife.

Brian - the Naked Gun