Director: Joel Hopkins
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson & Eileen Atkins
A likeable, if average, romantic comedy that owes much of its enjoyment to its two leads rather than to the story itself.
Written by Joel Hopkins for Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson after Hopkins saw them perform on Broadway together, Last Chance Harvey is a likeable film and while its plot seemingly feels like a retread of Before Sunrise replacing the streets of Venice for London and its young leads for older leads, like Before Sunrise, enjoyment can be had from the chemistry of its leads and the desire of the audience to see them achieve some measure of happiness.
Harvey Shine (Hoffman) is an American composer for advertising jingles who has let his work in America distance him from his daughter and his ex-wife who have built lives for themselves in England. While visiting London for his daughter’s wedding he meets Kate Walker (Thompson), a statistics collector at Heathrow Airport who has become disillusioned with the notion of romance after being single for most of her life and now lives with her mother. Initially getting off to a rude start, Harvey being too tired from his flight, they later encounter each other the next day after a failed blind date has soured Kate’s attitude further and Harvey having been replaced by his daughter’s step-father as father figure at the wedding and looking to return home to save his ailing career. Out of shared frustration, Harvey and Kate make a connection and spend a night getting to know each other whilst walking around London inspiring each of them to the possibilities of new chances in both love and family.
Last Chance Harvey depends a lot upon Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, their chemistry together and their likeability to the audience. The pair do engage quite well eventhough the conclusions they both come to about life and love, especially at their respective ages, is rarely original or insightful and the course their romance takes whether it be back to Harvey’s daughter’s wedding or a later missed connection between the two don’t surprise neither does the ultimate outcome of the relationship between Harvey and Kate but the likability of Hoffman and Thompson make up for the predictability of the film’s plot. There is the addition of a sub-plot involving Kate’s mother and her suspicions over the behaviour of her new, Polish neighbour, that at first seems like an unnecessary diversion to the main story but becomes somewhat more enjoyable later in the film but mostly this is Harvey and Kate’s story.
Performances in Last Chance Harvey are also enjoyable. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson have an enjoyable chemistry despite initially seeming like an unlikely pair and while neither actor is stretched by their role or delivers anything particular memorable in their performances (both Harvey and Kate are possess personality types similar to those played by Hoffman and Thompson in the past) their performances are still satisfactory. There are some likeable supporting performances too with Eileen Atkins delivering an amusing turn as Kate’s conservative mother and from Liane Balaban as Harvey’s daughter Susan who come across as warm and friendly despite the emotional distance that had developed between her and her father.
Overall, Last Chance Harvey is nothing exceptional in either story or in the performances of its lead actors but the actors themselves and the chemistry between them means that Last Chance Harvey is a likeable if unmemorable romantic comedy.
Rating: 3/5
