The Love Punch (2013) Reviews

• Enjoyable Fluff

  alfredsmith2014-08-15

  I do enjoy a good British romantic comedy. My guilty pleasure I guess. They just make you laugh and feel good, just a little escapism and shouldn't be taken seriously. Being serious, well, that's for other films. Having said that, this movie has so many things wrong with it, it should be a huge failure, but oddly enough I loved it. I thought the two leads Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson were exceptionally well cast as they were so believable and likable. The other "good guy" Anglo-Saxon characters were good and as in so many other British films, the bad guys were French. I'm not sure how to judge their performances. The French accents were really dodgy at best and totally unbelievable, but this just added to all the fun. You know what? I must just watch this again, now.

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• Good old times

  kosmasp2015-05-24

  Maybe the movie only "deserves" a 6 out of 10, but our main actors and their interplay alone is worth that extra point I gave it. It really feels like those two know each other their whole life, but we knew how good both are acting wise. The movie is also not really hiding the fact that it knows that we know where it is heading. We shall have fun on the ride there though. And we can have fun, if we let ourselves. It's easy like that, just enjoy the two and some odd jokes along the way (let's call a repeated joke video chat "bombing", taken from photo bombing someone of course). Characters are very aware of what they are doing and in what movie they are in (villains are villains you see). Just enjoy if for what it is :o)

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• Lighthearted fun

  cinematic_aficionado2014-04-28

  A divorced couple lose everything and so they plan a robbery in order to recover what is rightfully theirs. This is a light-hearted comedy through and through, the type we are getting more and more used to in seeing the former Mr Bond. One could go on about the insufficient storyline as well as the sheer impossibility of the break-in executed by utter amateurs. Whilst I stand by the above but to judge it on that basis would be a miss and by treating it as a fun/cheerie comedy about a former couple who have to put up with another in order to salvage their pension and embark on an adventure it will suffice for a somewhat delightful time on the big screen.

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• Crime-caper is a bit of a french-farce.

  guchrisc2014-04-23

  Film opens at a party. A woman, played by Emma Thompson, goes to the bar for a drink. She is joined by a man, played by Pierce Brosnan, who tries to chat her up. We quickly realize that they already know each other. They were married, and are now divorced. After this scene-setting first act, we get the seventies-style opening titles. Both graphics and music are spot on. Our divorced couple are of mature years. Mr Brosnan's character is suave and sophisticated. He has been somewhat of a ladies-man but is now slowing down. He is in fact facing retirement and the chance to practise his golf-swing. However a problem arises. Just as in the 2012 film 'Papadopoulos & Sons', a financial crisis wipes out the business successfully built up over a life-time. This is of course merely the McGuffin that takes our story from its very authentically set middle-class British location, and off to France. Not an economic slump, but rather financial skullduggery, is the cause of the change in fortunes. Laurent Lafitte, effortlessly playing the cardboard villain required in this paper-thin plot, is the nasty Paris- based businessman who needs to be confronted. A car-chase is the occasion for the second great rock-track of the film. A plan is hatched that requires a change of scene to southern France. Thus we are in the same setting as the 1988 comedy-con-film 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels', though without the frenetic exuberance of that film. So we have a plan, and a con, in what seems like a crime-caper. However this film seems much more like a french-farce. Lots of bedroom scenes, including lots of hiding ensue. We even have a very tasteful nude-scene with the lovely Miss Thompson. Though 'No sex please, we're British' can be implied by the 12A certificate. Tuppence Middleton had a small supporting role in the recent 'A Long Way Down', a film in which Mr Brosnan also appeared. Here Miss Middleton is given a more dramatic role, she plays a bit of eye-candy who also has a small action scene, all the while also having to use an engaging french- accent. Miss Thompson, who last year demonstrated her acting-skills in her magic role in 'Beautiful Creatures', here has less to stretch her in this romantic bit of fluff. However although her role was not overly demanding, she did convince in her role. She plays well a rather poignant scene when she loses her daughter. In 'A Long Way Down', Mr Brosnan adopted a sort of Bob Hoskins-lite accent, that this reviewer feels was adopted to portray a working-class journalist type of character. Here though he is virtually accentless. The voice is rich, middle-class, Home Counties, but also with a hint of an Irish lilt. Perfectly suited to his role as successful businessman. Two ordinary friends and neighbours are played well by Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie. They complement the others. It may be a french-farce but these actors, who were all either born, or grew up, in London, or southern England, play their roles authentically. Authentic too is the location-shooting, especially of the middle-class suburbs of London. These would seem more familiar to a larger number of viewers than the more upper-class settings of Richard Curtis. Writer/Director Joel Hopkins has given us a nice mix of action and romance. There is an iconic 'Reservoir Dogs'-like slo-mo scene. Mr Hopkins shows off Miss Thompson's beauty, whilst also showing her bedraggled in comic scenes too. Good work all in all!, though personally I felt the beach scene was too long. The writing too is good. Of course the plot is paper-thin, but it serves the purpose it is required to do. Perhaps the worst part of this film is its title. Like 'Welcome to the Punch' of last year, this film too has a similarly bland and unmemorable title. The recent 'A New York's Winter's Tale' was entertaining but preposterous nonsense suitable for young lovers and romantics. This film too requires a similar total suspension of disbelief in the action scenes and the plot. However, like 'ANYWT', 'The Love Punch' can be also viewed as a bit of fairy-story, though one more suitable to a more mature audience. Totally unbelievable and unrealistic, this rom-com however does serve as a pleasant way to pass the time. Oh la la! 8/10.

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• A gloriously jolly romp

  Figgy66-915-5984702014-04-23

  23 April 2014 Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester Tonight - The Love Punch. A gloriously jolly romp starring Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Timothy Spall and the marvellous Emma Thompson who is nothing short of a national treasure. This is a lighthearted tale based on a fairly serious premise of a company being taken over and and stripped of it's assets without a single thought of what's going to happen to the employees. With everyone having lost their financial security, Richard (Brosnan) makes a promise to sort everything out and with ex wife Kate (Thompson) he enlists the services of their neighbours (Imrie and Spall) and the computer expertise of their son to embark on an adventure to get back what is rightfully theirs. Set mainly in Paris and the South of France, this film keeps you amused throughout and the four main characters work splendidly together to the gentle conclusion. Great Weymouth reference too!!!

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