The Duke

Don’t expect an imminent BBC airing of The Duke, an amusing true-life portrait that balances quirky charm with a more serious examination of sociopolitical issues facing British seniors during the 1960s.

This well-acted, breezy caper comedy from the late director Roger Michell (Notting Hill) follows a 60-year-old bus driver who commits an extreme act of civil disobedience, along the way becoming an unlikely crusader for grassroots social justice.

Kempton (Jim Broadbent) is hardly a criminal mastermind. He lives in Newcastle with his contemplative wife, Dorothy (Helen Mirren), who works as a housemaid. They’re locked into a committed relationship defined by both loyalty and bickering, since he’s an anti-establishment schemer and she’s a more pragmatic conformist.

So naturally she becomes exasperated as Kempton focuses much of his attention on his irritation with public television, arguing that he shouldn’t have to pay a licensing fee to watch the BBC on his outdated set. That lands him in legal trouble, and he’s too stubborn to avoid jail time.

Eventually he takes to the streets with a soapbox and a megaphone, and the support of his adult son (Fionn Whitehead), philosophizing and lobbying for free TV access for low-income families.

Struggling to drum up public support for his causes, Kempton impulsively sneaks into London’s National Gallery to steal — or borrow, as he claims — a priceless Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington. He intends to hold it for ransom until his demands are met, before unforeseen complications threaten his plan.

Broadbent and Mirren are each in top form as endearing souls whose longevity together suggests a classic case of opposites attracting, yet whose bond also endures through residual guilt and grief.

The Bunton family dynamics are intriguing, although the supporting characters are not rendered with much depth, from authorities to enablers and those in-between.

Downplaying legal and ethical complexities in its character-driven approach, the screenplay elicits a rooting interest in Kempton’s cause regardless of your familiarity with this obscure instance of government oppression. Is he a blue-collar folk hero? That depends on your point of view. The understated film, to its credit, doesn’t easily pass judgment.

Michell sprinkles some evocative period details throughout. But while it’s specific to its working-class setting, The Duke is a crowd-pleaser on either side of the pond.

Rated R, 96 minutes.