Romantic comedies like French Kiss, Sleepless In Seattle and When Harry Met Sally have explored the idea that our life is often a frustrating and sometimes unsatisfying search for the perfect partner to share our lives. A number of recent films in this overdone genre have also looked at how coincidences and accidents can shape our lives. This charming, funny and very enjoyable British comedy shares a number of themes and ideas in common.

The film's central premise deals with an unusual romantic triangle that involves three friends who all fall in love with the same woman. Frank, Daniel and Laurence have been friends since childhood. Then Martha (Monica Potter) comes between them, and her presence tests the nature of their friendship. An American who is leaving her messy life behind her, Martha is determined to begin a new life in London. In a series of chance encounters, the three friends all meet Martha separately, and believe that she is their perfect, ideal woman who will make their miserable, vaguely unfulfilled lives richer.

Daniel (Tom Hollander), a narcissistic record company executive, is the most successful of the three. Returning from a business trip in America he first meets Monica on the plane and tries to impress her. Frank (Rufus Sewell) is an unemployed and unsuccessful actor lacking in confidence, who always suffers stage fright and misses auditions. He meets Monica in Hyde Park, and tries to empathise with her about their own shared hardships. Laurence (Joseph Fiennes, from Shakespeare In Love, etc) is a sensitive artist who also teaches bridge to elderly ladies.

The story unfolds largely in a series of extended flashbacks as Laurence relates the story of how Monica's presence strains their friendship to a psychiatrist (Ray Winstone), who conveniently lives in a downstairs apartment. Misunderstandings snowball with comic consequences. But, with a charming and witty script from Peter Morgan and some deft direction, the idea actually comes off. The film's structure is occasionally a little clumsy in the early stages, but once it hits its stride The Very Thought Of You becomes an intriguing little tale of friendship, love and deceit.

Nicholas Hamm directs in a suitably light manner that keeps the film bubbling along. Fiennes, who injected the sex appeal into the Elizabethan era in his two previous period films, slots perfectly into this more contemporary setting. He smoulders his way across the screen, and his sympathetic performance here builds upon his previous solid credits. Potter (recently seen as the romantic interest in Patch Adams) looks a lot like a younger version of Julia Roberts, and she brings much of the same beguiling charm and screen presence to her role. The pair develop a wonderful chemistry that lifts the film whenever they are on screen together. Sewell has a glum and brooding presence, and he seems a little too intense for his role. Hollander brings some humour to his performance as the self-obsessed, obnoxious and immature Daniel. The choice between these three lovesick lads would seem pretty obvious, although Hamm manages to stretch out the suspense. Hamm also brings London to life, beautifully using the city as a backdrop to the action.