Emily (Diane Keaton) has adjusted to being widowed a year ago in all respects other than financially. She is trying to keep her poor finances a secret from the other residents of the upmarket apartment house she lives in when she encounters Donald (Brendan Gleeson), known locally as The Tramp, who lives in a shack built from scrap in thr grounds of a long-demolished hospital. Donald happily keeps himself to himself and makes to demands on anyone, but the owners of the site have served an eviction notice on him so that they can redevelop the site. Donald's instinctive reaction is aggressive bluster, because he doesn't know what else to do. And so Emily starts helping him to obtain Adverse Possession (Squatters Rights). Which doesn't go down well in her social circle.Hampstead is an affluent, upper-middle class area of north London which is mildly snobbish and, paradoxically, under the impression that it isn't, and this underlies the humour in this fanciful geriatric romance, based on a real-life case of someone who had made his home on a forgotten, but ultimately valuable, plot of land.Hampstead is photographed very prettily. Diane Keaton has a little more substance than in her last couple of outings, and Brendan Gleeson does comedy as well as he ever has: he doesn't get too much opportunity for comedy usually, which is a shame.Jason Watkins, as usual, steals every scene he is in.Real life, I suspect, had little in the way of romance accompanying the legal issues whereas the fate of the two ill-matched lovers is the raisin d'etre for the movie. And that's fine. The resolution is a bit too glib but, otherwise, this is very gentle and likeable.

In this Joel Hopkins (The Love Punch, Last Chance Harvey) directed and Robert Festinger (Stars in Shorts, Trust) written film, Brendan Gleeson (Gangs of New York, Edge of Tomorrow) stars as Donald Horner, a man who lives in a makeshift house on Hampstead Heath who is befriended by an American widow, Emily Walters played by Diane Keaton (Father of the Bride, The First Wives Club). She is in financial difficulties and urged by both her son Philip (James Norton: Belle, TVs Happy Valley and Grantchester) and friend Fiona (Lesley Manville: Maleficent, Vera Drake) to consult an accountant, she agrees to meet with James Smythe (Jason Watkins: TVs Taboo and Being Human) and to hand out flyers about Fiona's husbands property development and this is when she meets Donald. Drumming up help from some local activists (Hugh Skinner: Les Miserables, TVs W1A), she sorts out a lawyer (Adeel Akhtar: The Dictator, Four Lions) to fight his eviction notice.With a very human story, this drama based on true events is full of sadness, romance and comedy and the workings of society. From an ostracised 'homeless' man to a widow trying to live up to social expectations we see how lifestyles can so easily be turned from successful to difficult and how this can be judged by others. Both main characters have problems and their pride is preventing them from accepting help yet they ultimately realise that they have to be true to themselves and their real friends in order to move on with their lives.Norton is woefully underused and the music score is far too elevator, but the cinematography makes up for this. There is a great turn by Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Viceroy's House) as the judge and although there is a strange moment where Emily, the widow, begins to do things totally out of character, the film has a well-paced gentle if predictable plot with fine acting. The minor characters do seem to be a tad one-dimensional but there is something satisfying about these two outsiders taking on the establishment and winning.

This film, stated to be based on the true story of the 'Hampstead Hermit' Harry Hallowes, tells the tale of a alternative lifestyler who builds himself a 'residence' in an isolated corner of Hampstead Heath, where he lives largely undisturbed for many years. Brendon Gleeson is brilliant as the irascible hermit, complete with quirky observations on life and the modern world. Widowed American Emily spies him when looking out her attic window with binoculars, and invests reasons to meet him, and the rom com dimension stems from that. I'm not quite so sure about Diane Keeton's success in her role, but her gentle reserve mostly rings true, as do the fragile relationships with her conflicted 'friends'. Most of the smaller parts are forgettable one dimensional caricatures of various typical British types. The film looks and feels the part, as I'm sure those who have had the pleasure of spending some time on Hampstead Heath will agree. Some aspects of the plot have some substance, some have that odd ring where truth seems stranger than fiction, but overall it's a bit predictable and lightweight. It's a pleasant, gentle and undemanding film that probably justifies a couple of hours of your time.

This is a poor mans' Lady In The Van, i.e. take a real-life incident, weave a fey plot of sorts around it, shoot on a real London location and wheel out the usual suspects, the television actors who go from one assignment to the next, hit their marks and neither bump into the furniture nor frighten the horses. Three days work in March, luvvie, right you are, another nice little earner, that's the new Aga sorted.That you, Tarquin? Can you give us a couple of days next month? Chichester? Well done, you. Never mind I'll give Roderick a bell. Break a leg. And thus you wind up with the likes of Lesley Manville, Jason Watkins and James Norton, who should have been insulted to be asked to phone in something Samuel West turned his nose up at. Okay, luvvies, this is the thing; we're bringing Diane Keaton in for the marquee, you're precious Primrose Hill types, you can do it in your sleep and there's a new kitchen in it. Luckily (for the producers) Camilla Long filed her last review for the Sunday times a week ago and is off to have a baby, otherwise ...