Review: ‘Last Chance Harvey’

Tom:

Finally, a movie I can recommend to my parents! LAST CHANCE HARVEY turns out not to be the sappy, cloying   romantic comedy I feared after seeing the trailer. It’s actually a mature, wise and simple tale of two lonely adults connecting and finding the opportunity for an unlikely romance.

Hoffman plays Harvey Shine, a sad-sack 60-something composer of music for TV commercials. LAST CHANCE HARVEY takes place over the course of one weekend as Harvey flies to London to attend his daughter Susan’s (Liane Balaban) wedding. Emma Thompson is single, fortyish Kate Walker whose job involves polling rude passengers at Heathrow Airport. Kate lives with her dotty mother (Eileen Atkins) and seems to have accepted her lonely fate. The first half of the film cross cuts between the two characters whose paths almost cross early on. Nothing goes right for Harvey as he clumsily interacts with the other wedding guests. Susan decides to ask her stepfather Brian (James Brolin) to give her away which causes the humiliated Harvey to sulk off before the reception and head out to an airport tavern to drink heavily. Kate is there reading and the two hit it off. Harvey takes Kate back to the reception where he is inspired by her to grow a spine and confront his family.

The best parts of the film, to me were the dynamics of the wedding itself. Like RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, the heart of the film is Harvey’s awkward arrival at an event where he knows he’s going to either make others uncomfortable or be invisible. Kathy Baker shines as Harvey’s ex-wife and some of the interaction between the former couple and their old friends is painful and real. The father-of-the-bride speech that Harvey finally gives is very moving and heartfelt.

LAST CHANCE HARVEY has some problems. Susan’s snub in asking Brian to walk her down the aisle is such a cruel insult and it doesn’t really ring true.   If the father-daughter relationship was that estranged, why did she bother to invite him in the first place (it seems that the seemingly decent Brian would step in and decline her heartless request)? But it’s a plot device that generates a whole lot of sympathy for Harvey and leads to him finally connecting with Kate. Then there’s that montage, set to music, (it’s in the trailer) of Kate trying on dresses to wear to the wedding where the film veers dangerously close to the preciousness it had so wisely avoided. Emma Thompson’s Kate is an underwritten role compared to the more fleshed-out Harvey. She seems to exist to prop up Harvey, which she does in record time. Also, the movie is promoted as a comedy, but aside from a running gag about Kate’s mother’s paranoia over her neighbor who she thinks is a killer, the movie never generates any real laughs. The film meanders a bit after the wedding scenes, but at 92 minutes, it passes by pleasantly enough.

Hoffman’s great here and looks younger than he has in a decade (I guess they had to put that dye in his hair to make his romance with Thompson, an actress 23 years his junior, not seem too creepy). There is no sex, violence or coarse language, so take your Mom to see LAST CHANCE HARVEY this weekend.

Melissa:

Ah, what better for a romance than an awkward older American and a bitter, desperate English woman. That is how we start off this tale.

Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is not having the best of luck. His job is pushing him out the door as he is leaving to fly to his daughters wedding in London. The rehearsal dinner is a disaster! His daughter has asked her step father, not Harvey to give her away, his ex-wife keeps excluding him and treating him like an embarrassment, and he officially loses his job. What’s a boy to do?

Kate Walker (Emma Thompson) is still single well into her 40’s. She is looking for love, and it seems her friends are more than eager to play matchmaker to no success. She is rather straight to the point and doesn’t really sugar coat anything.

While at the airport bar, the two find themselves the only two there and begin first attacking, and then chatting each other up. This movie is about second chances, love, and going after what you want.

The story really is heartwarming. I think they were trying to paint Harvey as more of a bad guy in the beginning but I really didn’t get that. I more felt sorry for him. You could tell how ostracized and embarrassed his family seemed to be of him. It was quite sad. Upon meeting Kate, he is pushed to be a better father, to not care what they think and instead be there for her. Hoffman and Thompson are very cute together. There is a very odd chemistry that I thought would be off putting, but instead meshes quite nicely.

I agree with Tom. This is a great movie to take your mom to. I can’t necessarily see box office gold, but it’s still a cute movie for a cold night.

[Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5]