The Abduction Club film review

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THE ABDUCTION CLUB

The age of chivalry is not dead after all. Well, at least not in Stefan Schwartz's romantic comedy, set in late 18th century Ireland.

Byrne (Daniel Lapaine) and Strang (Matthew Rhys) are best friends who belong to The Abduction Club: a secret fellowship of financially destitute young bachelors with the singular aim of finding and marrying rich heiresses, run by founder member Sir Myles (Patrick Malahide).

The rules are simple: club members woo the young ladies in public, then abduct them from their homes in the night, and persuade the fair maidens to marry them before daybreak (and the intervention of their disapproving parents).

Byrne and Strang set their sights on the beautiful yet feisty Kennedy sisters, Catherine (Alice Evans) and Anne (Sophia Myles), daughters to blustering nobleman Robert Kennedy (John Arthur).

Alas, the ladies are not impressed with the two friends' well-honed charm - indeed, both women could not be more disinterested - and one of Anne's other suitors, cold-hearted John Power (Liam Cunningham), doesn't take kindly to their kidnapping.

So Byrne and Strang go on the run with the ladies, hoping to change their minds as they gallop across the glorious Irish countryside.

Meanwhile, Powers implicates his love rivals in the murder of a Redcoat soldier, and duly enlists the help of good friend, Attorney General Lord Fermoy (Edward Woodward), to order the immediate arrest and execution of Byrne and Strang.

Soldiers are quickly deployed, and the two bachelors soon find themselves running for their lives, and protecting an increasingly smitten Catherine and Anne from harm.

The Abduction Club is a mildly entertaining affair, with plenty of heaving bosoms and lusty britches, and a faintly whimsical tone.

Director Schwartz works to the same tried and tested template as his previous film, Shooting Fish, endearing his two likely lads to the audience as they valiantly woo Catherine and Anne.

Unfortunately, Lapaine and Rhys have little to no charisma and their characters are poorly scripted. Moreover, there's no logic why the sisters inevitably succumb to their suitors particular brand of tomfoolery and idiocy. Evans and Myles fare slightly better as the feisty femme fatales, and Cunningham and Woodward effect a convincing swagger as the villains of the piece.