Mrbrown43 Lady in the Van (2015) tells the true story of Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings) uneasy friendship with an homeless elderly woman (Maggie Smith) who stayed in his driveway in a series of vans for 15 years. Over the course of those years he learns about the series of events that caused Mary Shepard to become homeless. Despite the possible grim subject matter of being homeless and suffering from the mental stress that comes from being homeless and guilt from past mistakes, the film maintains a fairly light-heated tone that makes the some of the bleaker aspects have more of an impact as well as make it more digestible. The trouble with these types of movies is that there is very little I can say about it that is not spoiling a joke or a major plot development. However what I can talk about is the performances.Maggie Smith is amazing, flat out amazing. She captures every scene she is in, whether it is insulting Alan Bennett or anyone around her or showing how badly old age decays her physical and mental health, the film also displays how a series of events led her into the terrible state she is in at the time of the film. Alex Jennings is great too, in fact everyone is great in this, and they deliver their lines with perfect comedic timing and grace that always ends in laughs. The writing for the first and second act oozes wit and charm, none of it feels forced for comedic effect or heavy handed. It keeps the pace flowing smoothly and is after all the film's most valuable assist. However this sadly becomes badly apparent in the third act.I will not give away any spoilers but it tries to introduce a Meta narrative that works as well into the pace and previous type of narrative as one running a hand over a cactus does to ease pain. It hurts the film and reduces what could have been a overall pleasant and haunting movie into a silly feature that thinks it is cleverer then it is.I did enjoy the film and I would watch it again. It is just a shame that the final act decides it wants to change the narrative in that the film had not earned or needed.

Malcolm Parker "Maggie Smith is Glorious" boasts the cover of the DVD, and I wouldn't in any way contradict that, but she is the film's saving grace and the fact that the DVD contains an entire segment on "visual effects" reveals just how far from what was once a simple but endearing essay on English eccentricity this film has wandered. As with much of Bennett's work, it was in this simplicity that the attraction of the story lay, and moments of dialog in the script do hark back to that clarity. But with two Alan Bennetts, both with - to my ear - draining impersonations of Bennett's accent, an ensemble cast - many of whom seem to have been chosen for reasons other than their suitability for the roles and a frankly bizarre, Monty Python like final segment that fits like a spoonful of saccharine on top of a tablespoonful of sugar - what a disappointment!

moonspinner55 Alan Bennett adapted his autobiographical 1999 West End play and subsequent BBC Radio 4 drama about a homeless woman in 1970 Camden named Mary Shepherd who needed a place to park her van, her home on wheels, after leaving it on the street has alerted the authorities. Bennett (played by Alex Jennings as a maybe-maybe not homosexual) is too polite to refuse Mary help, and so allows her to park her van in his driveway, where she stayed for some 15 years. Maggie Smith, recreating her stage success, is not portraying a charming vagabond, an irascible curmudgeon. Her Mary is an impossible handful, and one watches this film about her not knowing how to respond. If the picture is meant to be wily and eccentric, it fails because it isn't funny. When Shepherd needs medical help and the classical music is poured on, that doesn't work either, because this character as written isn't poignant. I tired of her long before the finish. *1/2 from ****

swjg If you have seen the trailer - you have seen most of the jokes in the movie. Which is not to negatively criticize it - it will get you through the door.What you then get is a nice study of an old lady living in a van in real playwright Alan Bennett's driveway for 15 years and of Bennett's introspection and observations that subsequently lead to the play and now movie.Maggie Smith is a joy as the cantankerous old lady with her personal demons.Filmed at the actual location of the real story - The street backdrop - set with a tour de force of the British car industry of the 1960's through late 1980's is an impressive feat by the producers in its own right!