Potent idea flops ever so sweetly
HAMPSTEAD
Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, James Norton An unlikely duo finds a common cause and a mutual attraction. HAMPSTEAD is not without its charms — any movie that stars the ever-enchanting Diane Keaton and the appealingly bearish Brendan Gleeson is off to a pretty good start.
But those charms prove just a touch too flimsy and featherweight to make this London love story anything more than a trifle.
Of course, sometimes a trifle is all you’re after, in which case, have a look at Hampstead. Just be sure your expectations are in check.
And, while the presence of two talented and likeable actors in the lead roles is usually welcome, the KeatonGleeson team-up is actually slightly disadvantageous to the film — both are good in roles suited to their strengths but their chemistry as a couple is sadly lacking.
And, given that their opposites-attract relationship is one of the cornerstones of the movie, that’s a problem.
Add to this a tone that occasionally strays out of its warm, gentle comfort zone and into the territory of twee, and Hampstead certainly has its share of issues.
But it’s a good-looking, good-hearted film, one that uses a true story as a jumpingoff point.
Henry Hallowes reportedly lived for years on the Heath, a massive park in the posh London area of Hampstead, and was ultimately granted the deed to his plot of Heath land in a court settlement a decade or so ago.
For the purposes of Hampstead, Hallowes has been reimagined as Gleeson’s Donald, a rumpled Irish squatter whose gruff manner can’t completely disguise his heart of gold.
Keaton’s Emily is also a resident of Hampstead, but her living conditions are a little more up-market . . . for the time being.
A year widowed, she’s socially isolated and financially shaky.
One night, from her apartment window she spots Donald in his natural habitat. Intrigued, she tracks him down.
A cautious friendship blooms into romance, and then the two join forces to fight a property development that would have Donald removed from the Heath as yet another luxury apartment block is built.
That’s a potent idea in a time when property prices are skyrocketing and home ownership remains an impossible dream for many, but Hampstead doesn’t do a great deal with it.
It doesn’t do a great deal with much of its material, really, preferring to coast on the charms of its stars and the glow it gives its London locales.