Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Retirement at last! Middle-aged and divorced, company owner Richard Jones is looking forward to a worry-free existence as he arrives at his office on his last day of work. Much to his dismay, he discovers that the management buyout of his company was fraudulent. The company is now bankrupt and the employee pension fund — including his own — has been embezzled. Enlisting the help of his ex-wife Kate, Richard sets out to track down the shady businessman behind the fraud.
The Love Punch is a lightweight romantic caper that pairs Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson on a Riviera heist to recover stolen pension funds. Thompson and Brosnan have genuine charm and chemistry that elevates the material above its station, but the plot is a fairly formulaic mix of heist comedy and rekindled-romance beats with few surprises. The French Riviera and Côte d'Azur locations are attractive and competently shot but not memorably composed. The premise of older divorcees pulling off a jewel heist has some appeal but the execution is thoroughly by-the-numbers, and the resolution wraps up too neatly and predictably to satisfy. A perfectly watchable but unremarkable picture that coasts almost entirely on its two leads.