Debuting out in Toronto last year to slightly mixed early reviews, Joel Hopkins’ romantic-comedy/heist film, The Love Punch, is soon set to arrive in cinemas on our shores.
Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan lead the cast as a divorced couple who scheme to recover the retirement money stolen from them, bringing in the heist part of the equation. And with its release date on our shores on the horizon, eOne have released the first trailer.
Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson plays Kate, whose biting banter with ex-husband Richard (Brosnan) suggests that the embers of their former ardour haven’t been fully extinguished. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for their retirement nest egg, which is well and truly wiped out when Richard’s investment firm is defrauded and the employee pension fund is siphoned away. Learning that the unscrupulous French financier behind the scheme has just purchased a $10 million diamond for his bride-to-be, the divorced duo grudgingly agree to set aside their differences, and hatch a plot to crash the nuptials and nab the gargantuan rock. Complicating matters is the high-security wedding venue, a cliff-top castle on the Côte d’Azur — a challenge seemingly better suited to Brosnan’s erstwhile super-spy alter ego — plus Richard’s growing conviction that his split with Kate was a mistake.
Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie complete the leading quartet as co-conspirators, alongside Tuppence Middleton, Hopkins (Last Chance Harvey) directs from his own script.
Reviews out of TIFF suggest that the film has predictability working against it, but the delight of watching Thompson and Brosnan working for it, so fans of the actress and actor will no doubt enjoy what’s shortly coming our way. Thompson is of course coming off the back of her acclaimed performance in Saving Mr. Banks – a performance worthy of an Oscar, even if it didn’t make it onto the Best Actress nominations.
Brosnan was last seen leading in similar romantic-comedy fare in Love Is All You Need, and has the anticipated A Long Way Down on his slate this year, along with more diverse features in thrillers November Man alongside Olga Kurylenko and The Coup opposite Lake Bell and Owen Wilson.
The Love Punch is set to be released in the UK on 18th April. No word yet on a US release date, but Ketchup Entertainment will be distributing stateside via Open Road, so hopefully viewers across the Atlantic won’t be kept waiting long.
