Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent) is the archetypal frustrated crank. He’s perpetually getting canned from jobs for taking what he considers principled stands, to the eternal annoyance of his long-suffering wife, Dorothy (Helen Mirren). After Kempton is jailed for refusing to pay the TV license fee required of any citizen who watches the BBC, Dorothy gives him an ultimatum—basically knock off the lunatic lost causes or ship out. But the man can’t help himself. Then he bites off a lot more than he can chew by allegedly stealing a famed Francisco Goya painting and holding it for ransom for what he claims is the greater good.
If this all sounds like a fanciful shaggy dog story, it certainly plays like one, but it’s based on a factual story (in proof number infinity that truth is stranger than fiction). The tragic loss of his daughter is put forth as the underlying motivation for much of Kempton’s raging against injustice. Roger Michell’s final film, before his untimely death in 2021, sometimes gets overly sentimental and rose-colored about its “simpler” early 60s milieu, but Broadbent more than carries this homage to the triumph of a little man. If you don’t root for this guy to succeed, despite his myriad flaws, I’d wonder where your heart is. R, 96 min.
Limited release in theaters
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