Review: Last Chance Harvey

Jun 5 2009 The Journal

LOVE blossoms when two lonely people least expect it in writer-director Joel Hopkins’s gently paced and incredibly charming romance, set in bustling, modern-day London.

Admittedly, you may need a very sweet tooth to swallow some of the saccharine sentiment, and the central narrative thread doesn’t have a single unexpected knot before the feel-good conclusion.

However, the sensational pairing of Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson adds polish to very familiar material.

When they share the screen, rather awkwardly and sometimes hilariously grappling with their characters’ feelings, we are hopelessly smitten.

Having lost his job, middle-aged jingle writer Harvey (Hoffman) flies into the capital to reconnect with his estranged daughter in time for her wedding.

At the airport, Harvey briefly encounters survey-taker Kate (Thompson) and dodges her questioning, like so many other passengers.

When he sees her in the airport bar, reading a trashy novel, Harvey apologises and strikes up a conversation, which sparks a friendship.

They journey across the city together and Harvey offers to carry Kate’s books, which she needs for a creative writing course.

With his daughter’s nuptials fresh in his mind, Harvey asks Kate to be his guest and they head for the reception at the Savoy Hotel, where the former jingle writer must face his ex-wife and his inadequacies as a parent.

The film is a delightful surprise, navigating the turbulent waters of Harvey and Kate’s amour fou with aplomb.

Hoffman is endearing as a man worn down by life, who blunders from one misfortune to the next only to stumble upon the person who could change his life forever.

Thompson is spellbinding, too, as a spinster who has sacrificed her happiness to take care of her meddlesome mother.

Screen chemistry between the two leads simmers and we believe entirely that the characters could fall for one another.