Keeping Mum

"Mummy! Mummy! Billy Martin came after me, but Grace was there and all I said was broccoli and now he's dead! Billy Martin's dead! Woohoo! Billy Martin's dead!" —Petey

A dark 2005 British comedy starring Maggie Smith. In it the Goodfellow family is starting to fall on hard times; Walter Goodfellow, a vicar, is obsessing over writing the perfect sermon. His neglected wife Gloria is beginning an affair. Daughter Holly is bringing home increasingly unsuitable boyfriends while son Petey is bullied by his classmates.

And then, like Mary Poppins floating down from the sky, Grace Hawkins appears to set things right. Only instead of Machiavellian schemes worthy of Jeeves her main strategy involves murder.

Tropes used in Keeping Mum include:

• Amusing Injuries: Maggie Smith just pawned you with an iron.
• Asshole Victim: Lance.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Grace is very cheerful. Even when discussing multiple homicide.
• Black Comedy: And how!
• Butt Monkey: Some of the characters have their moments.
  • Gloria has it until her husband gets home from the convention.
  • Walter has it, especially when playing soccer-football.
  • Petey has one until the bullies take over the treatment, thanks to Grace.
  • Rosie Jones at the beginning.
  • Holly when she is caught by her mother, but decreases it in most scenes.
  • The neighbors have one when killed by Grace, and so does a Jerk Victim named Lance.
• Catch Phrase: "It's about the flower arranging committee." Also, "Shall I put the kettle on?"
• Cloudcuckoolander: Walter. "Was that a brassiere over Holly's shoulder this morning?"
• Comedic Sociopathy
• Dead Man's Chest: You know the one.
• Death as Comedy
• Died Standing Up: Mrs. Parker
• Disposing of a Body: "I'll just have to use the pond again."
• Dysfunctional Family: The Goodfellows to some degree.
• Funny Foreigner: Lance, though YMMV as to whether he's funny or just a monster inside.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: It happens in some scenes, but Lance would suggest on taking his thong off, but Gloria tells him to keep it on. Later in the film, Walter and Gloria have sex in the dark, but it reveals their fully bare arms (not their chests or any bare body part despite being nude in bed)
• Go Among Mad People: Rosie/Grace.
• The Hecate Sisters: Holly the maiden (*snrk*), Gloria the mother and Grace the crone.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: "How did you know about the other bodies?"
• Incredibly Lame Pun: "No, not the moon. It has no atmosphere."
• It's Personal: "It's the least a mother could do for her daughter!"
• Karma Houdini: Grace.
• Kick the Dog: Billy Martin and his cronies do some Dog-Kicking of Petey.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Grace to Gloria (which you should see coming from a mile away)
• Magical Nanny: Parodied hard, especially because this film can be seen as a black comedy version of Mary Poppins.
• Moment Killer: "I'll be late for work", later Gloria needing to "see to Mrs. Parker" after Walter returns from the convention. And then there's Lance's posing pouch...
• Motor Mouth: Walter, despite his stutter over "Cod's Mysterious Ways", has this treatment when returning home early from the convention.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Grace is introduced in this manner. As she puts it, she and her doctors often disagreed on this point.
• Never Mess with Granny: Technically, "never mess with Mum" would be more appropriate, but it works, as Grace is of rather advanced age.
• Oh Crap: Grace realizing that Mrs. Parker might know about Gloria and Lance; "Mum...I think you need to see this!"; the workmen announcing that the pond needs draining.
• Really Gets Around: Holly. Her poor work-obsessed father can't even keep track of which boy she's on. ("This is Carl...Mark...er, David.")
• Romantic False Lead: Lance.
• Spoiler Title
• Stealth Pun: Mrs. Parker is quite the nosy Parker, isn't she? Also, Grace, Gloria and Holly "keep mum" over something that Grace's long lost mother did...
• Ungrateful Bitch: Gloria when her daughter, Holly, accuses her for being a total utter bitch. Holly deserves a mention too.
• The Vicar: Walter, of course.
• Title Drop: We get close to one with Grace's "Mum's the word, dear."
• X Meets Y: Mary Poppins meets Arsenic and Old Lace
• Yandere: GRACE.