This slight British comedy stars Rowan Atkinson of Mr Bean fame in a rather large role, instead of the cameos he usually gets to play in big screen movies . . .

Except for one cringe-inducing attempt at the sort of bumbling slapstick that marked his Mr Bean persona, there isn't any attempt at physical comedy in Keeping Mum. Atkinson is however so good in his role as an ineffectual wimp that one finds it difficult to believe that someone like the lovely and dynamic Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) would ever be married to him in the first place!

Still, Kristin Scott Thomas's character scores low on good judgement, as is illustrated by her fling with an American golf pro (played to grillerige perfection by Patrick Swayze).

Unfortunately Keeping Mum is ultimately too well-mannered and bourgeois for its own sake. If you find the idea of a vicar telling mild religious jokes risqué, then it is definitely for you.

While Keeping Mum will play well with a certain segment of the Cinema Nouveau audience, as a black comedy it simply isn't black enough. It takes no chances, is slow-moving and is ultimately a bit like your very English auntie dropping in for tea: pleasant, but not really all that much fun . . .

Could have been so much funnier.