Hartnett on Holiday

You say what? Furrowing of the brows and sage shaking of the head in perplexed and stunned amusement was the name of the day here at Empire Towers this morning when we heard the frankly laughable – not to say rather odd – plot for Josh Hartnett's next film. Ignoring the fact that it inevitably recalls for any Brit the perma-tan horror that was TV's Judith Chalmers by virtue of its very title, Harnett's flick Wish You Were Here sounds even dodgier when you hear the storyline. Prepare yourselves, now. For here it comes. Four college friends travel to Morocco – ok so far. But why are they making this sojourn to the land of mint tea, kazbahs and snake-charmers? A spot of student travel, perhaps? A self-expanding insight into a foreign country's culture? Nope. It's to smuggle their college chum's royal fortune out of Morocco after his family is assassinated in a palace coup. An attempt which, of course, goes horribly wrong. Described as an action thriller, Empire Online fervently hopes that there'll be more than a saving hint of humour in this one or God knows what will be the outcome.