Aping the flashback structure of ‘Blue Valentine’, this harmless London-set romcom depicts the optimistic start of a love affair and its sputtering sort-of-end. Tom (TV regular Kris Marshall) is a self-absorbed record-sleeve designer who’s just been made redundant as the industry implodes; Eloise (Annelise Hesme) is the woman who fired him, a French ball-buster hired to streamline the company. But when they’re trapped in a lift (groan, seriously?) the inevitable happens. Three years and one passionate but doomed relationship later, the pair meet for a farewell drink…
There’s nothing particularly offensive about ‘Sparks and Embers’ – Tom is a bit of a pillock and Eloise’s cutesy-Frenchness is laid on rather thick, but the performers are essentially likeable. The problem is there’s no real charm, originality or insight either: the film just meanders lazily along, and ends without leaving an impression.