Movie review: Last Chance Harvey

Jun 17 2009 by Ian Bunting, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

‘LAST Chance Harvey’ is a romantic drama starring Dustin Hoffman as the titular character, Harvey Shine, visiting London for his daughter’s wedding.

While there he meets Kate Walker (played by Emma Thompson). They strike up a conversation and realise that they share a nice chemistry. Can Harvey capitalise on this last chance at love and finally bond with his daughter?

‘Last Chance Harvey’ is a pleasant enough movie. It won’t win awards for much originality but it is a refreshing change to see two older actors lead the way in a film of this nature.

Behind the camera is Joel Hopkins, who has next to no directorial experience, and he coaxes some excellent individual intimate moments from his two leads.

Hoffman has gone for more simple, fun roles in recent times (‘Meet the Fockers’, ‘Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium’) and he is very good here. He starts off quite grouchy but seems to delight in his later attitude change. He isn’t your typical romantic lead male but give me a twinkle-eyed Hoffman over a foppish Hugh Grant any day.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Emma Thompson but she is also quite impressive and shows up younger actresses dabbling in the romance genre (Cameron Diaz anyone?).

Hoffman and Thompson are quite sweet together but don’t make the most convincing couple. They actually do their best work apart, in particular two parallel scenes showing each of them feeling out of place and lonely.

Harvey’s scenes with daughter Susan (played by Liane Balaban) and Kate’s with mum Maggie (Eileen Atkins, ‘Gosford Park’) show the two actors at their best, with some touching, human moments. Also I just had to mention James Brolin (playing Susan’s step-dad Brian); with his tango-tan, he looks like something out of a bad American soap-opera.

One minor complaint about the movie would be that the change in Harvey’s personality happens so quickly it feels quite unrealistic. One minute he is delivering awkward speeches and leaving his daughter’s wedding, the next he’s spontaneous and buying a dress for a woman he’s just met.

His ‘father of the bride’ speech, though, is superbly delivered. It is, in turn, funny, touching and quite sad. Everyone does become too ‘lovey-dovey’ afterwards, however.

The ending delves into typical ‘rom-com’, schmaltzy territory but I don’t suppose you see a film like this to watch an acid-tongue-filled row bring things to a close.

‘Last Chance Harvey’ stays clear of the smugness and repetitiveness of the later Richard Curtis London-set romantic comedies and offers a bright, uplifting night at the cinema.

Like its male lead, it’s short, relatively sweet, inoffensive stuff that you really should give a chance.

Rating 7 out of 10.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR: Dustin Hoffman (Harvey) and Emma Thompson (Kate) get to know each other in ‘Last Chance Harvey.’