The Abduction Club review

Reviews

Jun 1st 2003 By Total Film

This would-be swashbuckler has an intriguing premise. According to the 18th-century Irish aristocracy's rules, eldest sons inherited everything, while younger siblings got sweet feck all. So a little brothers' gang is formed to whisk away young heiresses and charm them into marriage. A botched kidnap then sends highwaymen Byrne and Strang (Daniel Lapaine, Matthew Rhys) on the run with two feisty rich sisters (Alice Evans, Sophia Myles), pursued by eminently boo-able villains. Director Stefan Schwartz's follow-up to his comedy Shooting Fish starts as an amiable romp that aims to steal your heart. But by the time it peters out into formulaic nonsense, the central miscasting and anachronistic dialogue have grown irritating and the only thing abducted is 90 minutes of your precious time.