Movie: The Love Punch

It is an unlikely pairing in an unlikely genre – Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson - both brilliant - in a comedy.They play a long-divorced couple and if they’d stopped at the comedy caper this should have been and left the unlikely rekindling out of it, it would have been OK. That and just cut the first excruciatingly Mama Mia-like 20 minutes. I’m making the comparison because I found the start of that made me want to hide under my seat in pain. I went to see it because I adored the Broadway version but the film put me off Abba songs for a good few years. In the same way, this starts of full of cringe worthy actions that I’m pretty sure neither star would have agreed to. It got much better though.The scene sets with Kate online dating and Richard separating from yet another young partner. Richard is about to retire and his firm has just been sold, only to find the new owner has stripped the company of all its assets and left everyone without a pension.The couple pair up, along with their friends (Timothy Spall who stole the scenes and Celia Imrie) to seek revenge and get back what’s theirs. It turns out to be a nothing-to-lose adventure to France with a supporting cast of billionaire playboy, his socialite bride and an unlikely online, much younger date. The whole story is ridiculous so once I got to finding characters and situations that I sympathised with, it's watchable. The Texans are brilliant and the Bond jokes and the spoof slow motion scenes - along with the running jokes make it highly watchable.It didn't need the the-will-they-won’t-they get back together underlying story and it could have been funnier along the lines of the highly enjoyable Last Vegas but I'm glad I saw it through.7½/10Smile factor 7/10