Hampstead *** (2017, Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, James Norton, Lesley Manville, Simon Callow, Hugh Skinner) – Movie Review

Hampstead is quite sweet as an old-timers’ romance. Despite its rough edges, writing hesitancies and some dodgy performances, it is likeable and entertaining.

Brisk and competent, Diane Keaton does the Diane Keaton turn satisfactorily, though somehow it is hard to imagine her hard up and dithering and purposeless like this. She plays an American widow living beyond her humble means in a flat in Hampstead, who encounters a man living wild on Hampstead Heath. Improbably, the two bicker a bit and then fall in love, and the widow helps the wild man take on the developers who want to destroy his home.

Keaton oozes confidence, determination and calculation, all the things that keep her a movie star at 71. Who thought she was right for this role? Emma Thompson might have been perfect, though she can’t do American very well.

Brendan Gleeson is outstanding, cast against type in an untypically quiet, romantic role, making a lot out of it, showing again what a great screen actor he is. Simon Callow’s turn as the judge is fun too and Hugh Skinner is pleasant in a minor role as Keaton’s helper.

There is a nice use of picturesque Hampstead, north London, as you would expect, though arguably the film is too much of a travelogue at the start. But, once that’s out of the way, and pleasantly, it settles down to the job of the romance and developing the story and characters of the two main people.

In some places Robert Festinger’s script is witty and perceptive, but unfortunately it is not consistently so. This is really not a consistent film at all. Some of it is much better than others. And some of the characters are way underwritten, wasting good actors. Festinger co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for In the Bedroom (2001).

I’m sorry to say that James Norton is all wrong, stranded in a useless role as Keaton’s quizzical, uncomprehending son. Jason Watson is ghastly as Keaton’s romantically inclined accountant, in a useless sub-plot. Lesley Manville is working valiantly as Keaton’s bitchy, patronising, rich, posh neighbour, and just about makes something out of it. It’s not a very nice part to have to play, so my sympathies were on Manville’s side. In fact, none of these three parts is nice to play, so we can sympathise with the actors’ plights, except perhaps in the case of Watson, who over-eggs the pudding shockingly.

As it is based on a true story, it is odd that it has an unreal fairy tale element about it. Nobody really persuades you that this is actually happening on screen, or could have happened like this in real life. The ending is totally fairy tale. Hampstead actually seems to say ‘it is only a movie’, but that’s OK too, I guess.

It should appeal to The Lady in the Van crowd here in the UK and to Americans who’d like to have a little vicarious look at leafy London. Note to tourists: Hampstead is a suburb but it’s posh. It is real London, but it doesn’t seem like it. It’s not part of the bustling city, like Soho or Covent Garden. Rich people live there. It used to be a left-wing enclave. But now just rich people live there. You’ll probably not get there because it’s luckily a bit off the beaten tourist path. So enjoy the movie!

Incidentally, Thompson is cast with Gleeson in Alone in Berlin (2016), playing a German wartime married couple. Talking Thompson, she starred with Dustin Hoffman in director Joel Hopkins’s charming romance Last Chance Harvey (2008) a few years back. It’s a rather better film. Hopkins also made The Love Punch (2013). He’s cornered the market in pleasant British entertainments for older people.

The writers are Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review

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