If you've ever fantasised about a missing romance from Love Actually then Man Up could be the story for you. Now, it's a bit bawdier than Richard Curtis' Christmas favourite (The Inbetweeners Ben Palmer is behind the lens) and not as special, but when it comes to heart, it's the equal of the 2003 vintage.
Bell plays Nancy, a 34-year-old journalist whose love life is a disaster zone. Pegg is Jack, a just-divorced 40-year-old who works as a marketing manager but really wants to be a painter. In a case of mistaken identity they end up going on a blind date and find they've plenty in common. But, over one night, both their pasts may scupper their chances of a shared future.
While Pegg's is the name that will put bums on seats, he's largely the straight man here for Bell's whirlwind of cynicism, confusion and chaos - a character deserving of her own sitcom if ever there was one. Bell has certainly done herself plenty of radar-prominence favours here with this performance, and while there are plenty of hands-over-eyes social faux pas in the quest for laughs, there's also a real poignancy as two lonely people are forced to face the idea that, perhaps, they're meant to be by themselves.
Try to make sure you're not if you go to see it - you'll enjoy it all the more.
Harry Guerin
