Karl Puschmann: It’s no Ocean’s 11 but heist comedy Romantic Getaway steals easy laughs

Katherine Ryan and Romesh Ranganathan in comedy Romantic Getaway, streaming now on Neon.

They say the best things in life are free. But that’s not true at all. This saying is supposed to inspire you to look past the pleasures of consumerism and value things like the breath in your lungs, the smile of a loved one and the joy in a child’s laugh.

I have two children and was fortunate enough to not have to pay for either of them. Until, of course, the moment they popped out. After which I have never stopped paying for them.

But what if we hadn’t got lucky when I was getting lucky? My fiancee and I certainly couldn’t afford IFV treatment. Would our dream of starting a family have ended before it began? Or would we have taken every desperate shot we could?

This is the question that forms the beating heart of Neon’s new crime-comedy series Romantic Getaway. Allison and Deacon desperately want to start a family. They can’t naturally and have exhausted their attempts through public health services. Their only hope is a top-end, super-expensive private clinic that they most definitely can not afford.

Their desperation gives birth to a plan. To get the cash they’ll simply steal it from the property management firm they work at. Normally, a crime such as this would be ill-advised. But as Deacon works in accounts he’s discovered a seemingly forgotten bank account that he’s fairly certain they can pilfer from without getting caught.

Also, their jackass of a boss has made it personal by again reneging on the annual bonuses he promised them, and that they were relying on, by pleading poverty. But it’s hard to take his claim seriously when he’s paying for weekly happy-ending massages and bankrolling wild nights at the club, complete with $300 bottles of vodka, all on the company credit card.

Clad in the classic hacker attire of a pulled-up dark hoodie, Deacon goes to an internet cafe and accesses the account while Allison plays interference to security checks back at the office. The couple had agreed to nab $50,000. Enough to cover the IVF treatment. But when he’s in Deacon discovers there’s a whole lot more money there than he initially believed so he adds an extra zero to the $50k before hitting transfer. He transfers the money to bitcoin, transfers the bitcoin to a USB memory stick and then flees the scene.

Their heist is a complete success. They book into the clinic. Get the top IVF specialist and begin the process. Everything is going swimmingly. Until their problems begin.

They don’t know how to get the money from bitcoin into their account, they find themselves being blackmailed by a colleague who isn’t as clueless as she makes out, they get tangled up with the criminal underworld of Deacon’s randy “uncle” and the boss’s dodgy dealings have attracted the attention of the taxman who places the company under audit, begins trawling the accounts and is very keen to have a word with Deacon.

Biggest of all, he’s also too afraid to tell Allison that they have actually stolen half a million quid, not a mere $50k.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to conceive. It’s this aftermath that the show is primarily focused on. Being a comedy, everything is played for laughs - so while it all sounds serious on paper it’s actually a funny little show.

Allison is played by Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, who the UK has really taken a shining to, and her bolshy style of humour works perfectly against comedian and series co-creator Romesh Ranganathan’s dry wit as her husband Deacon. The pair have a comedically cynical chemistry that serves them well. Meanwhile, Johnny Vegas does an excellent job at repelling you as their loudmouth, cartoonishly bad-tempered boss Alfie.

Despite the serious subject matter, IVF and high crimes, the show has a breezy vibe. Allison and Deacon may end up in a lot of sticky situations and on the tail end of dangerous action chase sequences, but there’s always a narrow escape with nothing bogging them down for long.

While it’s not exactly Ocean’s 11, it is easy and enjoyable to watch. And very bingeable. But it’s not going to grow into a comedy classic. Even still, once you’re invested you’ll want to keep watching to find out if this unlikely pair of criminals do in fact get away with it to live happily ever after in domestic, family bliss.