Last Chance Harvey Review & Rental Queue

Last Chance Harvey review: B-

Last Chance Harvey follows the lives of two older people, both struggling in one way or another with their routine’s. Harvey is a jingle writer who can’t keep up with the changes in the industry and, ultimately, doesn’t want to. The musician leaves for London to attend his daughter’s wedding at a critical moment in his career: the perfect moment for him to be fired. He also learns that his daughter is asking her step father to give her away at the wedding. Kate, meanwhile, works for a census gathering booth at the air port, and has to take care of her lonely, mother, who calls Kate’s cell phone almost non-stop. It’s only when they find each other that things start turning in the right direction.

Written and directed by Joel Hopkins, Last Chance Harvey is a light movie about falling in love, with comedic and dramatic moments laced together. Sounds a lot like a number of other movies, of course, but what makes it stand out in a big way is its focus on the leads. Two people over forty, finding new love. It’s sweet and dynamic, and a lot of the credit for this film lies squarely on the shoulders of its leading cast.

Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are both very familiar faces on the big screen. Both Oscar winning, veteran actors who each have impressive filmographies to their credit, they are power houses of the top most caliber. They don’t falter here, both delivering near perfect performances that are endearing, captivating, and easy to relate to. This coming from someone very much younger than either of them, it truly shows the depth of their reach and the simple, yet resonating, nature of a well told romance story.

Thompson and Hoffman have a beautiful chemistry together. Natural and subtle, it isn’t explosive and fiery, yet it isn’t stoic or forced. It flows and simmers, always present and, like a breeze over beautiful embers, blazes at all the right moments. They’re funny together, and bring out the best in the other. Each has a familiar way of delivering lines, of playing a character: they’re Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, for crying out loud. And yet when they are on screen together it’s like watching two new people, which is, of course, what good acting is supposed to feel like. Not to mention the fact that they look adorable together. Thompson sometimes towers over Hoffman, and the awkward way Hoffman has to tile his head up to look at her just makes the screen light up with charm.

Of course, there are things to complain about. The story is very simple and straight forward, almost text book in fact, with no real surprises. It’s a cute story, as far as set up and characters, but the devices used to move the plot are common place, complete with a ‘picking out dresses’ montage that feels almost obligatory rather than natural and welcomed. The side story with Kate’s mom and their Polish neighbor is almost a waste of time, and it feels like those few minutes of screen time could have been used for more productive purposes. But this kind of story telling is acceptable in a piece that is supposed to be about its characters, and their relationship, so these flawed scenes can be forgiven.

What can’t be so easily overlooked is the lack of character development. Yes, Hoffman and Thompson deliver beautifully with what they are given, acting their socks off in every single scene they’re in, but it just feels like a shame that they weren’t given more. There’s little exposition on the backstories of the two leads, and what there is can easily be missed in the movement of the conversations they pop up in. Harvey and Kate walk together, learning about each other, but it never feels like much is revealed. This, I think, is a failure on the part of the writing, because it didn’t delve deeper into the two components that were the most important parts of the film. We’re told that Kate is sometimes very rude and downright mean, yet are only giving a fleeting example of it. Harvey is built as this awkward outcast, yet has no trouble leaping into conversations with strangers (granted, maintaining them often proves to be more of a challenge). These are great traits that are meant to add a dynamic to their relationship but, unfortunately, are just not explored as much as they deserved.

The movie still shines, with some memorable scenes and two extraordinary performances to make it a worthwhile viewing experience. It offers laughs and smiles, as well as warm hearts, easily and never manages to alienate any of its viewers, despite being set across the seas and with middle aged love birds. London is shot beautifully, and the music fits every scene gracefully, never making itself overbearing or out of place. And did I mention the memorable scenes? I’d probably go again just to watch them meet in the airport bar one more time.


Rental Queue 2

Meet the Fockers
The sequel to Ben Stiller’s Meet the Parents and, in my opinion, the better of the two, focuses on Greg Focker bringing the family of his soon-to-be wife to meet his own parents, and hilarity ensuing once the two groups collide. Dustin Hoffman plays the father of the Focker house hold, a goofy, lovable, childish man with an over-active sex drive and no concept of ‘over sharing’. Robert De Niro returns as Jack Byrnes, the formidable father of the bride and ex-CIA operative. The two are hilarious, both together and apart. Barbra Streisand is absolutely charming and could almost steal the movie as Greg’s mom. It’s just a fun romp with great performances all around.

Sense and Sensibility
Emma Thompson’s Oscar winning adaptation of the Jane Austen’s novel is a brilliant tale of romance and devotion. Not to mention heart break. Thompson earned her Oscar, for best writing, by adding in some truly great scenes and recreating dialogue that flowed seamlessly with the original voices penned by Austen. The cast is remarkable and all deliver stand out performances, from Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant to Alan Rickman. Hugh Laurie shows up as the cantankerous Mr. Palmer, hinting at a character that would make him a ‘house’ hold name years later.

Stranger than Fiction
The movie that introduced the powerhouse duo of Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman to the world. True enough, they only share one scene together, but it’s just enough to hint at a great compatibility between them. The movie itself is one of my favorite showings from Will Ferrell, who takes a break from his usual slap stick and crude humor movies to give a fairly sober, though sweet, performance here. Thompson also shines, playing a battered writer fighting against writer’s block and an ever approaching deadline.

Outbreak
Want to watch Dustin Hoffman running around in a bio-medical suit, leaping out of helicopters and saving the world from the ever so pretty Motaba virus? I knew you would. This is an interesting, albeit disturbing, film about a highly contagious disease hitting the US, courtesy of an infected monkey and Patrick Dempsey. If bleeding from every orifice isn’t something your stomach can handle, then this probably isn’t the flick for you. But if you like your Kevin Spacey sarcastic and endearing, like I do, as well as a fairly entertaining sci-fi thriller, then this is worth checking out. Though, it might make you want to wash your hands.

Howard’s End:
In ‘Last Chance Harvey’, Kate, Emma Thompson’s character, mentions the book ‘A Room With a View’, which Harvey recognizes as a work by E.M. Forster, but confesses to never reading it. E.M. Forster also wrote Howard’s End, which was adapted in 1992 for the screen. This film won three Oscars, including one for Emma Thompson in her leading role as Meg Schlegel. Yes, it’s long, it’s British, and it’s wordy, but it had some powerful performance and is engrossing. I could have watched stories from the lives created in this piece for hours on end. Also, when it won the Oscar for Best Screenplay no one was around to accept it, which left the presenters to do their usual ‘thanks guys’ on behalf of the missing party. Who was that presenter? Dustin Hoffman. Thanks, IMDB!