Hampstead (2017)

Review

102min

Genre:      Fact-based, Drama, Romance

Director:   Joel Hopkins

Cast:        Brendan Gleeson, Diane Keaton, James Norton…and more

Writer:     Robert Festinger

-Synopsis-

An American widow in London forms an unexpected connection with a man living wild and in a makeshift shack on Hampstead heath, as they take on the property developers intent on evicting him and find solace in each other’s company in this British dramedy inspired by a true story.

Despite social tensions in Britain steadily rising over the years, director Joel Hopkins (Last Chance Harvey, The Love Punch) could hardly have know how prescient his latest British light romantic comedy would be by the time of its release. Yet this tale of later-life love and new beginnings, based on the true story of squatter and the late ‘Hermit of Hampstead Heath’ Harry Hallowes, does manages to brush up against real issues of social inequality and the housing crisis in of London, while remaining an uplifting and fanciful breezy romantic dramedy.

Diane Keaton stars as recently widowed and ageing American in London ‘Emily Walters’, living in posh Hampstead but struggling to maintain her lifestyle and meaningless relationships with pompous upper middle-class neighbours while staying out of a financial black hole, when she stumbles upon an unlikely life-changing relationship with fellow local ‘Donald Horner’ (Brendan Gleeson)—a long-time squatter in his self-sustained little enclave on the heath, maligned by the locals and now threatened with eviction by residential developers, only to join forces with Emily to fight for his home . . . and perhaps more.

‘Hampstead’ follows (or at least tries to) a long tradition of sentimentally charming and quintessentially British comedic dramas, which have become a signature of filmmakers like Richard Curtis in recent years, and it tries to capture the quirky poignancy of recent true-story UK dramas like ‘Philomena’ and ‘The Lady in the Van’—but Hopkins’s effort falls well short of the quality needed for a touching and amusing or even an entraining example of the sub-genre, tripping over clichés and an underwritten narrative which is toothless and unimaginative.

It’s clear to see who the filmmakers are targeting with ‘Hampstead’, setting their sights on an older audience with an innocuous drama about unconventional senior courtship and starting afresh, peppered with some hit & miss humour  which takes aim at the pompous but well-meaning London upper middle-class—all while sprinkling some tinseltown fairy dust on a true story by twisting the convivial relationship between the real ‘Hermit of Hampstead Heath’ and his neighbours, and by ham-fisting an unconvincing romance into the narrative.

The film almost threatens to be socially significant by depicting the real life David vs Goliath story of Harry Hallowes—a guilt-free feelgood story with a happy ending thanks to the quirks of the British legal system—but ultimately bumbles it, along with the serious issues of affordable housing and social inequality that it skims the surface of, leaving the limited depth in the film amounting to little more than convenient and naive middle-class armchair socialism . . . and from a luxury upholstered armchair at that.

‘Hampstead’ is not a complete waste of an hour and forty-five minutes though and has its limited charms, in the form of a few genuinely funny moments and the sheer telling of this unusual modern urban true story. Plus the rare albeit romanticised cinematic look at leafy North London and the talents of the great Diane Keaton and the always engaging Irish master-thespian Brendan Gleeson, despite them being given so little to work with and flesh out.

However in terms of a fanciful and forgettable adaptation of a true story, director Joel Hopkins and screenwriter Robert Festinger’s rather banal and stale comedic romantic-drama is as guilty as any Hollwood adaptation, a congenial and moderately entertaining affair at best, which will leave absolutely nothing in your cinematic memory to remember it by.

The Bottom Line . . .

Part true story drama and part quirky character dramedy but all rather tame and bland, ‘Hampstead’ manages to waste the considerable talents of its two accomplished stars by plunging them into a clichéd and underwritten story of senior love and new beginnings, built on taking plenty of artistic license with a true story and skimming the bones of genuine social issues. The result is an occasionally entertaining but instantly forgettable affair, which manages to fall well short of the modest standards of the films and filmmakers it tries to emulate.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Lady in the Van (2015)

British film adaptation of the autobiographical play by Alan Bennett, starring Maggie Smith as an eccentric and ornery transient elderly lady who lived in a battered van on his driveway and with whom he develops an unlikely bond.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings and Jim Broadbent among others.

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