Hugh Grant is surprising his critics, and not just the movie critics, with his latest film, Cloud Atlas. The owner of Britain's most foppish fringe acts against his type in this post-apocalyptic tale in which he plays several ugly characters including a cannibal. Peter McKay, the arch-diarist in the Daily Mail which on Saturday featured a tattooed Grant character on its front page, notes: "Maybe there is no harm in giving the star of Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral the benefit of the doubt. It might even moderate his dislike of the press." Maybe you could have a word with the boss, Pete? He probably won't see it like that.