ALL'S fair in love and war - until the injured party turns out to be you.

Audrey Miller (Julianne Moore) is one of the finest divorce lawyers in New York City - she has yet to lose a case and she never lets her personal life (what little there is of it) interfere with her work.

Her socialite mother Sara (Frances Fisher) is fiercely proud; if only her daughter could find her Mr Right then everything would be peachy.

Audrey meets her match when suave charmer Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan) sets up practice in the city.

He proves himself a gifted orator, capable of unpicking Audrey's seemingly watertight arguments.

A fierce professional rivalry begins which sets the city's tabloid newspapers and television papers alight, and Audrey and Daniel milk the publicity for all its worth.

When rock star Thorne Jamison (Michael Sheen), the hard-living front man of The Needles, decides to divorce his flighty fashion designer wife Selena (Parker Posey), Audrey and Daniel are hired as the opposing counsels.

The case seems pretty straightforward, except Thorne and Selena both want ownership of the fairy-tale Irish castle where they consummated their love.

In an effort to break the deadlock, the two lawyers travel to the Emerald Isle to value the castle for themselves and the fresh air sets them on the path to love.

Laws Of Attraction is a stylish yet half-hearted throwback to the classic screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s.

Screenwriters Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling attempt to replicate the kind of machine-gun dialogue that Billy Wilder achieved so effortlessly, establishing the attraction between the characters through their continued bickering.

Unfortunately, the patter isn't snappy enough and there's a tendency for the film to mire itself in syrupy sentiment, underscored by Ed Shearmur's overwrought orchestral score.

Brosnan possesses a wonderful easygoing charm and Moore is elegance personified but their screen chemistry isn't convincing.

More importantly, she looks uncomfortable with physical comedy, relying on Fisher to pickpocket all of the laughs.

Director Peter Howitt shoots everything in slightly soft focus and makes good use of the contrasting Irish and New York locales.

Inconsequential, forgettable fluff.

Rating: 5/10