The Abduction Club – 2002 | 96mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Inspired by real events of the late 1700s, Stefan Schwartz’s follow-up to Shooting Fish recounts how the impoverished young bachelors of wealthy families used to kidnap heiresses into marriage to secure their future. Set in Ireland, this disappointingly flat swashbuckler hovers uncertainly between slapstick comedy and period drama while the characters remain lifeless.

Second sons in wealthy Irish families, close friends Byrne (Daniel Lapaine) and Strang (Matthew Rhys), are members of the 18th Century Abduction Club, a secret fellowship run by founder member Sir Myles (Patrick Malahide). The rules are simple, woo young heiresses, then abduct them from their homes in the night, and persuade the fair maidens to marry them before daybreak. Byrne and Strang believe they’ve hit struck gold with the comely but feisty Kennedy sisters, Catherine and Anne (Alice Evans and Sophia Myles). Alas, neither romance nor abduction run smoothly as the fleeing quartet have to contend with a relentlessly vengeful suitor, John Power (Liam Cunningham), on their trail with the army behind him.