It’s not fair to critics who want to avoid spoilers but there’s a twist at the end of this romance-focused crime thriller that partly explains why everything that has come before has been so oddly stilted, unconvincing and thinly sketched out. Presumably, writer-director Felix Mackenzie was hoping to create a fairytale-like atmosphere but with a present-day London setting.
We’re supposed to feel enchanted by the tale of Lucan (Hassan Najib) and Alice (Elena Rivers), two crazy young kids pulling off heists while working day jobs as a bell boy and chambermaid, respectively, in a small hotel. But most viewers will just wonder why their high jinks are so incredibly unconvincing, why they trust their criminal mastermind handlers to show up with escape cars at exactly the moment needed, and why they live in a flat that looks as if it was hired on the cheap off Airbnb with practically nothing in the cupboards. Also, why does Alice walk out of her house wearing nothing but a skintight knit dress with no handbag or even a coat? Clearly, her mother (Amanda Abbington) brought her up to expect the entire world would be centrally heated. At least for most of the time she has sensible shoes on.
In the end, the setup isn’t oneiric enough to persuade nitpickers to just let go, nor plausible enough to get invested in. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely unwatchable: the two leads are both mesmerising to watch, and not just because they’re young and beautiful, with strong, striking features. They have chemistry as a couple, and they seem to believe in the project and perform with sincerity. There are moments when CGI stardust literally gets sprinkled around, which is cute and makes some sort of sense of the otherwise blandly meaningless title.
