by Jonathan Ross
3 stars
Six thirtysomethings coming in and out of each other's lives, getting down to it, breaking up and falling in love again... that's the rather uninspired plot of This Year's Love, but this bittersweet romance set in and around London's trendy Camden Town has something extra - the brilliant Kathy Burke.
The action opens as newlyweds Danny (Douglas Henshall) - a reefer- smoking tattoo artist - and Hannah (Catherine McCormack) - a woman of many hairstyles who runs a market stall - are about to live it up at their reception. But the celebrations have hardly kicked off when Danny is told of a recent indiscretion of Hannah's. He storms out and Hannah heads to the nearest pub to drown her sorrows.
There she meets Cameron (Dougray Scott), a serial charmer with an aversion to washing his hair, and they end up in the sack. Meanwhile, Danny is at the airport desperately trying to palm off Hannah's honeymoon ticket to cleaner and part-time singer Marey (Burke). But all she'll accept is a few drinks and a free tattoo and before long they are too in bed. Ian Hart also comes into the equation as Cameron's flatmate Liam who is desperately trying to woo confused rich-kid Sophie (Jennifer Ehle), while his own mind is far from stable.
As you can probably guess, the lives of all these couples eventually overlap and, while the end result is rather predictable, it's a lot of fun getting there. All the ensemble cast do well but Burke is the best of the bunch. Whether she's having her bum tattooed, spouting strong language or singing on stage she's a revelation.
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