Hampstead | Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson make an odd match

(Image credit: Nick Wall)

Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson form another of cinema’s odd couples in this lightweight romcom very loosely inspired by the life of Hampstead hermit Harry Hallowes.

Keaton, still playing a ditsy kook at 71, is an expat American widow whose finances are in a mess, and Gleeson is the bushy-bearded, homeless Irish eccentric who occupies a ramshackle hut on a patch of Hampstead Heath not far from her mansion flat. Grasping property developers have designs on Gleeson’s shack, Keaton comes to his aid and an unlikely romance blossoms.

Keaton and Gleeson turn on the charm, and the likes of Lesley Manville, Jason Watkins, Simon Callow, Phil Davis and W1A’s Hugh Skinner provide reliable comic support. The result is a fluffy, mildly diverting piece of entertainment, if lacking the spark of magic that would make it memorable. The Heath and its environs do look glorious, though.

Certificate 12A. Runtime 100 mins. Director Joel Hopkins

Hampstead is available on Digital Download from 23 October and on DVD on 30 October from Entertainment One.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsJv_bJBHSY

CATEGORIES

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.