In my youth, a film such as this was vanquished to the “old people’s movie” bin. Now that I snugly fit the demographic, I take even greater offense to such simple-minded geezer-porn. Jim Broadbent stars as Kempton Bunton, a real life taxi driver/frustrated playwright outraged over a television tax imposed by the BBC. A glimpse of Robin Hood on the telly clumsily sets the tone: the feisty 60-year-old sets out to strike a blow for pensioners everywhere by stealing Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery. In 1961, all it took was a ladder and the will to do so. Looking to hide the painting from his disapproving wife (Helen Mirren), Bunton and son (Fionn Whitehead) add a false-back to a wardrobe. You want adorable? We’re asked to believe the existence of the sequestered artwork first came to light when a vigorous quickie between #2 son Kenny (Jack Bandeira) and his blackmailing ex ended with the Duke’s eye staring back through a knothole. The stars almost save what proved to be Roger Michell’s (Venus, Hyde Park on Hudson) last film. (2020) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.