Johnson struggles to find the proper tone: the serial murders aren’t horrible enough to be funny, and the characters don’t respond as if they’re horrible at all. As a result the black humor thins into gray fog.

The Ealing of yore is gone, and Guiness, ex-ladykiller, is now and forever, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Here's mud in your eye.

A dark comedy that isn't dark or particularly funny, Keeping Mum ends up being an exercise in heavy-handed whimsy.

It's slight but charming, and fun in places, with the veteran actors just managing to keep the undisciplined screenplay on track until the grisly end.