The Abduction Club review

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""As long as she's got 20,000 acres, I don't care if she looks like a ferret's arse"." So says one of the members of the Abduction Club, a group of rambunctious, disinherited 17th-century Irish noblemen who kidnap wealthy lasses in order to charm them into saying "I do". Two such romantic hooligans are Byrne (Daniel Lapaine) and Strang (Matthew Rhys), who abduct the beautiful and very feisty Kennedy sisters (Sophia Myles, Alice Evans), only to discover that the girls aren't about to give away their fortunes to any old handsome chappie.

With plenty of powdered wigs and heaving bosoms, The Abduction Club inevitably draws comparisons with the highwayman hijinks of Plunkett & Macleane - but while Jake Scott's 1999 film had a vigorous streak of ribaldry coursing through its veins, this teen pic period romp is pretty tame. Only the good-looking charms of its young cast (especially Kate Winslet-a-like Myles) enliven the proceedings. But not quite enough for you to hand over 96 minutes of your time.

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