The Abduction Club Review

Abduction Club, The
Ireland, 1780. The younger sons of wealthy families, denied their inheritance, have formed a club to abduct eligible women. But a kidnapping goes awry when an under-aged sister comes along for the ride.

by Anna Smith |
Published on
Release Date:

19 Jul 2002

Running Time:

96 minutes

Certificate:

12

Original Title:

Abduction Club, The

This film is based on the notion that all women secretly wish to be stripped of all sexual responsibility by a handsome, well-bred rogue. Such a concept has to work hard to win over a modern audience and, sadly, The Abduction Club is lazy on this score. As a result it fails to convince or involve.

The idea is, of course, that the kidnapped women are actually liberated by the captors they happen to - rather conveniently - fall in love with. But the hastiness of the film to establish this fact is its undoing. The members of The Abduction Club are immediately romanticised, while the few women who don't submit leave us in no doubt that they will do so eventually. Everything here points to a core audience of young girls - Lapaine is suitably dashing and Myles makes for a relatively rebellious role model. But a lack of chemistry between the leads limits its romantic appeal.

Miscasting and clumsy plotting do little to lift this above Mills And Boon territory. Its swashbuckling heroes and swooning heroines will only convince the most old-fashioned and undiscerning of romantics.
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