Love is All You Need

Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Sebastian Jessen, Molly Blixt Egelind, Kim Bodnia, Paprika Steen

Director: Susanne Bier

Mamma Mia without the songs. It even has the same leading man in Brosnan. He's a widower headed for idyllic Sorrento, where the marriage of his son Patrick (Jessen) is due to take place in the orange and lemon plantation Brosnan owns.

Meanwhile, Ide (pronounced Eeda), played by Dyrholm, the mother of Patrick's fiancée Astrid (Egelind), has lost her hair and a breast after treatment for cancer. Returning early from radiotherapy, she finds her slobbish husband (Bodnia) having sex with a girl from work. Travelling alone and still distraught, Ide reverses into a car at the airport and it's Brosnan's.

You could almost write the rest yourself, but there's a twist or two along the way: Patrick and Ingrid aren't having sex and he spends time rooftop sunning with mate Alessandro (Ciro Petrone). No prizes for guessing where this is going, for this isn't exactly a subtle film.

Then there's Brosnan's loudmouth, divorcée sister-in-law (Steen), who thanks him for 'being there when my daughter struggled with obesity' (the girl cringes) and imagines he's in love with her.

Though the dialogue is clichéd, Danish star Dyrholm is very good indeed as Ide, and Brosnan solid as her South Pacific-style suitor; the film is certainly pretty and, if you're in a tolerant mood, will certainly fill an acceptable couple of hours - even as you smile over Brosnan having a son who's a good foot shorter than himself, almost a genetic impossibility. Couldn't they have found a taller actor?

David Quinlan

Denmark/Sweden/Italy/France/Germany 2012. UK Distributor: Arrow Films. Colour (unspecified).
116 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 15 Apr 2013