* * * ½

(Lovely British comedy)

While British humor can be an acquired taste, just seeing the incredible Maggie Smith, who has played queens and dowagers, playing a crusty old homeless person is more than enough reason to see this lovely British comedy.

Based on a “mostly true story” by Alan Bennett, Smith’s Mary Shepard shows up in her broken down, filthy van in an upscale neighborhood in London in the ’70s and stays for 15 years.

There are dozens of adjectives used to describe Mary, including cantankerous, ungrateful, rude and mean-spirited, but as we learn small snippets of her past, we begin to understand why.

She takes complete advantage of a single playwright (Alex Jennings), who the writers show as himself and his alter-ego, as he struggles to deal with the ungrateful old lady in the van. Mary worms her way from parking on the curb to moving into Bennett’s driveway, using his “facilities” and borrowing electricity for her TV.

Amid the humor, there are poignant moments as the playwright learns a bit of her past, while also dealing with guilt for not paying enough attention to his “mum,” eventually putting her in a nursing home.

If you’ve seen the trailers, you pretty much know the story, except for the delightful, touching ending, which we won’t reveal.

Maggie Smith is a pure delight and deserving of an Academy Award in a group of other very deserving candidates. The only problem with the movie is trying to catch every line of the British accents. They should have sub-titles.

Rated PG-13 with a bit of colorful language. A movie that will be enjoyed by older folks.