The Love Punch is
a romantic comedy heist film from director Joel Hopkins, sporting an all-star
cast featuring Emma Thompson, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie.
When high-flying businessman Richard (Brosnan) and his divorced wife Kate (Thompson)
have their pension liquidated when the former’s company is bought out, the two
join forces to steal a precious diamond in order to recuperate their losses, in
a journey that takes them from Paris to the south of France, all the while a
new-found romance developing between them.
One of the many things critics are accused of is being too
hard on films which the average movie-goer might just wish to enjoy as a bit of
fluff on a Friday night without having to think too hard, and it is certainly
the case that a great deal of critics have been very snotty about The Love Punch. I don't share their
opinion, and I think there is a lot to be said in the film’s favour.
The main element that makes it work is the chemistry between
the two leads. The ever-invincible Emma Thompson is delightfully no-nonsense,
her sarcastic drawl merging seamlessly with Brosnans’ unapologetically smug and
cheesy affectations. The latter appears much more comfortable and suited to a
comedy role than his outings as Bond (bar Goldeneye,
which is still brilliant) and Thompson alone holds together the slightly
flimsier scenes. Spall and Imrie both give good performances, Imries’
experience in BBC TV comedies giving her an edge (even though I will always remember her as one of the space pilots from The Phantom Menace), while Spall delights as her
gruff, grumbling husband.
Of course, seeing as the film is sold as a comedy, the
question is: is it funny? In this case the answer is a very big yes. It’s a rare thing to spend a whole
90 minutes grinning like an idiot but in this case I’m completely guilty. I
tittered, smirked and flat out burst out laughing consistently throughout the
film, the mix of bawdy humour and verbal wit proving a big hit not just with
me, but apparently the entirety of the audience. The entire cast seem to be
having an absolute ball and it’s hard not to just get caught up in the fun of
it, and there is one short sequence involving wetsuits that is almost worth the
price of admission by itself. There is fun use of cinematography too, every
scene in England cast in a cold, miserable grey light while the vistas of
France are bathed in an angelic glow.
On the down side, there are a few of the usual rom-com
niggles to be found: the various plot contrivances and holes are there, and a
selection of the side characters have little to no development (to say nothing
of their acting talent) and the brief moments of what are probably intended to
be deep and heartfelt just don’t hold together, the film working much better
when it simply focuses on the jolly humour and gross-out gags. The shoe-horning
in of the quiet, intimate pieces between the two leads, heavy with soft piano
music is entirely needless and could have easily been replaced with another
joke about Spall’s character’s time in the merchant navy.
To summarise, The Love
Punch is what you get if you got Le
Week-end and blended it with a decent helping of Carry On. The humour is punchy and varied, the leads are immensely
fun to be around, and while the story itself feels ridiculously contrived at
points and forced in its’ slower moments, that doesn’t prevent the film from
being a great big barrel of bawdy British belly-laughs.
3.5 Stars
