When someone mentions skin peddlers, one usually thinks of the likes of Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt or greasy men with big mustaches and tight jeans making and/or appearing in porno films. One, however, usually doesn't conjure up an older, austere woman who carries the prefix title "dame."
But that's exactly what will occur while watching "Mrs. Henderson Presents," a period drama starring Dame Judi Dench as a dignified British widow who buys a theater in WWII era London and subsequently turns it into a nudie review showcase.
For some, that might evoke thoughts of "The Full Monty" or the lesser seen "Calendar Girls" where a number of older ladies pose in the buff for charitable calendar photos. Like the latter film, this one is based on a true story, but unlike the former, Bob Hoskins" is the only older performer to show us the titular noun popularized by the first film (after all, did you really expect a dame -- and a 71-year-old one at that to follow suit?).
The result is a moderately entertaining dramedy from helmer Stephen Frears who gets a great deal of help from his veteran lead performers. Working from a script by Martin Sherman, the director of films such as "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Dangerous Liaisons" delivers a decent but never really spectacular mix of drama (the WWII material, the reasons behind Mrs. Henderson's beliefs and actions, etc.) and comedy (the "old married couple" routine performed by Dench and Hoskins as well as some of the nudity related material).
The latter stems from the former and thankfully sports a more subdued British sense of style and humor rather than going for the slapstick style bawdiness of Benny Hill (sorry, no Boots Randolph "Yakety Sax" score accompanies the material) or the over-exaggeration present in the recent big screen adaptation of "The Producers."
And much of that's due to the performances by and interaction between the leads. Antagonistic from the beginning but with a level of respect and properness that prevents the material from ever turning too nasty or sour, Dench and Hoskins have fun playing off the bickering, long-married couple angle (although their characters are not wedded) and they get some decent mileage from the routine.
There are also some amusing bits where the theater troupe has to decide how to outwit or at least work around the handwringing of a local official -- played by Christopher Guest -- who's concerned about the nudity and how it will be presented on the stage. While little if any of that's terribly clever and certainly not hilarious by any means, their solution is rather unique.
The dramatic elements, however, are more of a mixed bag. While the short bits featuring Henderson's reaction to family deaths -- both recent and long ago -- are nicely played and ring true without ever wading into any sort of maudlinness, some of the war related moments aren't as successful. Perhaps because of the adjacent lighter material, the Nazi bombings, etc. don't have the same level of gravity as one might expect, although it's never perfectly clear if that was the intended effect or not.
And a somewhat rushed subplot in the third act involving a performer -- played by Kelly Reilly -- being set up with a young soldier before he heads back to the war isn't given enough time to build into something emotionally engaging for us (although it nevertheless tries to tug on the heartstrings with its inevitable conclusion). While it's thematically tied to Henderson's motives and thus somewhat naturally flows from what we've already seen, it can't help but feel tacked on and undernourished.
Even so, the film appropriately belongs to Dench. While she could play this sort of role in her sleep (or at least over tea), she's nevertheless good in it, creating yet another engaging character in her repertoire of such cinematic beings. Nothing tremendous, but fairly easy to watch and be entertained by, "Mrs. Henderson Presents" rates as a 5.5 out of 10.
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