Getting married is a great way to fall in love.
With its sense of nostalgia and a feeling of more innocent times, Laws of Attraction is sometimes reminiscent of both a Doris Day/Rock Hudson romantic comedy and a Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy romantic spat. For younger audiences familiar with neither of these legendary movie couples we now have Pierce Brosnan head-to-head and heart-to-heart with Julianne Moore, who escapes from the suffering of her characters in recent films like The Hours and Far From Heaven and finds relief in much lighter fare.
Brosnan and Moore play New York divorce attorneys, Daniel Rafferty and Audrey Woods, both so caught up in their careers and accustomed to seeing the downside of matrimony that it may have long since lost its appeal for them. They clash during a case in which the slightly uptight Audrey - cockily assured that she has won - underestimates her somewhat scruffy, roguish new opponent who, she discovers, has never lost.
With their very different approaches, they find themselves matched in a series of courtroom collisions. Away from work, however, something starts to develop between them, although neither seems willing to admit it – even after they find themselves in bed together after a drunken dinner date.
Their relationship is tested when they become involved in a high profile case in which Audrey’s client is obnoxious punk rocker, Thorne Jamison (Michael Sheen) and Daniel’s is his equally unpleasant fashion designer wife, Serena (Parker Posey). When the ownership of an Irish castle becomes the only obstacle in the settlement of the case, Daniel and Audrey travel to the Emerald Isle to check out the coveted castle. While there, the romance of their surroundings rubs off on them and the following day they find themselves in bed together yet again – but this time, it seems, they have tied the knot!
Back in the real world of New York, they have to continue with the case and cope with their new situation – much encouraged by Audrey’s ever-youthful mum (a very enjoyable Frances Fisher).
