Racing Hearts | Film review - Fifty Shades' Jamie Dornan is all aflutter

Racing Hearts Poster Jamie Dornan Charlotte De Bruyne — (Image credit: © 2014 Flying BVBA. All Rights)

Hearts aflutter.

In a warm-up role for Fifty Shades of Grey’s cold-hearted tycoon, Jamie Dornan plays a ruthless hedge-fund whiz who heads to Belgium on a bizarre mission in bland Euro romance Racing Hearts (aka Flying Home).

As it happens, he’s there to bilk a local pigeon fancier out of his prize bird on behalf of the Arab sheikh he wants to win as a client for his firm. But his quest goes awry when he falls for his would-be victim’s comely granddaughter (Charlotte De Bruyne).

The plot couldn’t be more bird-brained, the drama is flatter than Flanders and the leads’ love story won’t set viewers hearts aflutter. But it’s curious to see Gold Blend ad couple Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan as Dornan’s (American) parents, and we do learn some interesting facts about the role pigeons played in World War One.

Certificate 12A. Runtime 93 mins. Director Dominique Deruddere

Racing Hearts debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Tuesday 8 August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE2bcads6SE

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.