Is there a sensible way to remove a google review?

you can also edit a review you wrote instead of deleting it, same place in maps, if you just want to change what it says. and if you've flagged one on your business, give it a few days - hitting report again doesn't speed anything up.

depends whose review it is. if it's one you wrote yourself, open maps, go to your contributions / reviews and delete it there. if it's on your business, you can only flag it and wait - and getting a couple more genuine reviews in tends to bury it faster than any removal request.