Last Chance Harvey (Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson) – Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are two of my favorite actors. When my friend, Scott, admonished me for including Hoffman as one of the three best male actors of his generation (along with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro), I inundated him with facts like Academy Award nominations and Oscar wins to prove my point. I believe that his roles in Rain Man and Tootsie (he would have won for this if Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi performance wasn’t both so wonderful and occurred in an epic rather than a comedy) were among the best in modern times. Emma Thompson is one of Britain’s best actresses, particularly in serious and classical roles, like Sense and Sensibility and Howard’s End (she won Oscars for both, the former for writing), not to mention Remains of the Day, Much Ado About Nothing, and In The Name of the Father. Her other serious roles have been very good, too. Comedy or, better yet, “dramedy,” on the other hand, is not her strength (Stranger Than Fiction, Nanny McPhee and Primary Colors). These two outstanding Oscar-winning actors appeared together briefly in Stranger Than Fiction and must have enjoyed it enough to want to work together in Last Chance Harvey. This is a traditional chick flick, aimed at the 50+ crowd.
Harvey Shine and Kate Walker are lost souls. He writes musical jingles for commercials while she works for the British government doing surveys of travelers as they exit flights. Harvey heads to London for his daughter’s wedding but he is practically a stranger in her life. Harvey and his wife (portrayed by Kathy Baker) are long divorced; she is married to Brian (James Brolin), who has been more of a dad to Susan than Harvey has. Harvey is planning to head back right after the ceremony and before the reception in order to go to a business meeting. Neglected by all of the principals planning the wedding; suddenly fired from his job; and having missed his plane home, Harvey heads to the airport bar where he meets Kate. In another movie that I like to call “the longest day in history,” they take a couple of long walks and decide to go to the wedding reception together. It’s all terribly improbable, which is after all the formula for a chick flick. The rest is quite predictable, even trite. So if the plot isn’t unique and the story is obvious, what is appealing about this movie? The answer, of course, is Dustin and Emma. She is about to turn 50 in real life and he is 71 now so this is not young love. It’s a reminder that love can come at any age and that September – November romances can be as appealing as May – December ones. If not for the actors, this would not be a good film. But with great actors, this rises to the level of a film worth seeing.