Last Chance Harvey
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Kathy Baker, James BrolinDirector: not listed
Studio: Anchor Bay - ITN
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release: May 5th 2009
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DVD Review
A struggling New York jingle writer (Dustin Hoffman) and a lonely British bureaucrat (Emma Thompson) meet by chane in London and transform one another's lives.
User Reviews
Why are there last chances? - Rating: 5/5
Sad meets sad and they become happy. Agreement with those that feel the acting makes this a five star movie when it easily could have been a sleeper. Question: does London really have such wonderful places? It must but then I am sure there is a great deal of judgment involved here too. Must make it a beautiful film. The daughter's wedding is a side show to the real event of course. As are the various other attachments. And who are the expected audience for this? Why would anyone suppose there are last chances?
An entertaining love story - Rating: 4/5
Warning - don't watch this film if you like 'all-action' movies as it certainly is not one of them. There is plenty going on but you need a brain (and a soul) to see it.
For once we have two actors who, despite their ability to portray the glamour of Hollywood, can nevertheless realistically play everyday people with doubts, fears and problems. The film shows that there is some sort of transformation for all of us and for these two how they have to shed the baggage of their pasts to face a better future.
A last chance.... We all deserve one - Rating: 4/5
Admittedly, there is no obvious compatibility between the great Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson; even having them both in the same scene is not easily comprehensible. C'est la vie.
The message, the story and Hoffman's performance are so great that even Thompson deserves a last chance.OK, enough with the sarcasm! It is a good movie, and even middle aged/out of work people can dream of a last chance. "Last chance Harvey" is a sweet movie that adds to Hoffman's victories and Thompson's history.
It's nice to see an older couple falling in love - Rating: 4/5
The script for this movie was kind of predictable but the acting was superb. I think it was really the actors who really made it as good as it was. Dustin Hoffman as Harvey and Emma Thompson as Kate were the perfect choices to play the couple. They were both very believable in their roles and their chemistry really worked. I thought Kathy Baker who played the part of Harvey's ex-wife also did an excellent job and was the perfect actress to play the part. I was rooting for them all the way through the movie.
I liked the fact that this was a love story about an older couple. Love stories about young people are a dime a dozen and it's nice to remember that falling in love has no age limit. They were just as sweet and romantic as any couple, in parts shy, in other parts showing the self assurance that comes with experience. It was the kind of script that made me really like the characters and empathize with them.
If you like romantic comedies this is one that you don't want to miss.
Actors overshadow the script - Rating: 3/5
Boy meets girl. Boy woos girl. Girl and boy have misunderstanding, but iron it out.
Well, imagine that scenario for the fiftysomething set. "Last Chance Harvey" is one of those thoroughly mediocre little movies that only manages to make itself memorable because it happens to star great actors. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson manage to turn this middle-of-the-road romantic comedy into something worth watching on a lazy summer afternoon, as long as you don't expect much plot.
The titular character (Hoffman, natch) is a down-on-his-luck musician/jingle-writer who visits England for his daughter's wedding, but fate seems determined to make him miserable -- women ignore him, his daughter has dropped him in favor of her stepfather, and he's humiliated at the rehearsal dinner. The only person who hasn't caused poor Harvey to drop further is pretty Kate Walker (Thompson), an interviewer whom Harvey brushes off at the airport.
Unsurprisingly, when they actually spend some time together, Kate and Harvey begin to click and Harvey starts openly pursuing this new woman who actually treats him like a human being. His self-confidence and charm begin to grow as Kate begins to reciprocate his feelings -- but when they hit a sudden snag in their first date, Harvey may have lost his last chance.
"Last Chance Harvey" is one of those plots that has been around for eons, especially in movies: lonely single people reluctantly find love with each other, despite a few "Love Affair" obstacles and misunderstandings, and turn their miserable pathetic lives around. It's neither a really good movie nor a bad one -- just sort of average, especially since the climactic obstacle turns out to be a really contrived, rather overwrought misunderstanding. Bleah.
But it does have a certain amount of charm, once Joel Hopkins has finished heaping every kind of indignity imaginable on Harvey without resorting to slapstick (seriously, give the guy a break!). There's a certain sweetness to seeing some perpetually disappointed people suddenly blossoming in utterly ordinary ways -- shopping, conversing, and getting awkwardly to know each other. And some of the gentle humor is amusing as well -- such as Kate's mother being convinced that her neighbor is a serial killer.
Honestly, this movie would be forgettable if it weren't for Hoffman and Thompson, both of whom are sublimely awkward, sweet and touching. Hoffman seems like a quietly enduring presence that is constantly beaten down by the world, but never gives in; and though it's not terribly convincing that someone who looks like Emma Thompson would be a lonely spinster, she is definitely Hoffman's match and (though no clear answers are given) obviously the person who belongs with him.
And thankfully there are no cheap ploys for audience sympathy, just a pair of strong presences that fill the entire movie. The supporting actors also do a good job -- nobody is demonized even if they do Harvey wrong -- but they're overshadowed by the two leads.
"Last Chance Harvey" is one of those "nice" little movies that are pleasant but unexceptional in any way, except for the lead actors. A good lazy afternoon movie, but not one that will stick in your mind.
