When I was younger, I hated what I called “old people” movies. You know, movies with generally older people, no action, no obvious humor, and no real plot to speak of. Frequently such movies are set in old English times and revolve around people having tea.

As I grew older, I swore off the idea. Converted by Jane Austen, I discovered that many “tea stories” actually involve some of the most complicated, interesting characters whose lives and attitudes reflect those of real life with poignant accuracy.

Having seen Gosford Park, I’m now convinced there really are plain old “old people” movies. Gosford Park fits the opening description exactly and has little of interest to add to it. A group of wealthy people have come to a sort of resort house for the weekend to hunt and socialize. Their servants and maid’s come with them, and the film spends just as much time of the servants as it does on their masters.

This focus on the servants does mark on interesting aspect of the story. There’s a whole lot to be said about class structure here. Despite their very different situations, both the upper class and lower class people’s talk about similar things and have similar problems. The underclass are continually undermined though, from one maid (Emma Watson) being fired for speaking her mind while serving to a detective investigating a murder and declaring that he isn’t interested in even interviewing the servants because they aren’t people of consequence.

Speaking of murder, Gosford Park advertises itself as a murder mystery, but fails as such. The murder itself doesn’t even occur until the latter portion of the film. When it does occur, it’s not something the audience can figure out by themselves and the eventual revelation is anti-climatic

One interesting, though very minor, sup-plot involves Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), an American movie producer looking for ideas. Though he is clueless as to the circumstances of the murder around him, he is fascinated by how much the servants know in general while the detectives look unsuccessfully for the murderer. At one point tells a writer over the telephone to make sure one of the servants commits the murder in the movie because they know so much and have all-access. Clever, but even still, this is no Adaptation.

There’s much to be said for the film technically. The acting is great all around, particularly from Maggie Smith, who amusingly plays a snobby old woman who, in her own words, doesn’t have a snobbish bone in her body. Everything is magnificently filmed and lit, the sets and costumes seemingly flawless. Though it’s an old BBC-esque sort of film, it’s certainly a high quality one.

But technical quality doesn’t make up for an aimless story and for two plus hours of never really knowing who all the characters are or what exactly is going on at any given moment. Yes, the old people movie is definitely still alive.

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