The Love Punch is a well cast, run-of-the-mill heist caper

A fun little caper in the screwball tradition, The Love Punch does what it can to follow in the footsteps of its filmic forebears, though ultimately it falls short. That’s not to say it’s not worth the ticket, but rather, in comparison to its influences, it can do nothing but fall short.

Right from the opening shot of the film, The Love Punch sets the tone with a sly reference to the James Bond franchise, and from there, director Joel Hopkins further aligns it with such classics as To Catch a Thief and The Pink Panther. In company like that it’s easy to fall behind, and despite all the efforts of its leading couple, Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan, the film remains simply “a fun little caper.”

Brosnan, of course, is internationally known as everyone’s at-least-third favourite James Bond, and his casting was no accident. The film plays with his 007 image quite often, almost imagining what would have happened if Bond had retired to become a financial analyst and grown comfortably old. In fact, many of the best scenes in the film recall Brosnan’s secret agent days, though his character is quite charmingly softer here. But god damn if he hasn’t aged well. The same goes for the extraordinary Emma Thompson – these two actors age like a fine French wine – though I doubt the film itself will.

Aside from the actors themselves, The Love Punch is certainly a handsome film. The French Riviera, while not ambitiously shot, is a director’s saving grace – it’s gorgeous wherever the camera turns. Unfortunately, for all the fun in the sun that the film has, it often finds itself derailed any time it has to return home to the marriage status of its leads, Richard and Kate. While their chemistry is great, the conventional nagging for them to “get back together” grows weary after a while and I’ll let you just guess how that ends up.

The Love Punch certainly takes a running leap to set up the big heist, but once it gets going, it really is a fun ride. Though admittedly implausible, if you can let yourself be swept away, if just for a moment, then you might find yourself enjoying this one. Bolstered by an amusing supporting cast and a spot-on soundtrack, The Love Punch, for all its faults, is a fun flick for couples young and old – but mostly old.