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I went into "Last Chance Harvey" expecting to see a leisurely love story
played out by two professional actors who know their business and would have a
nice chemistry.
I knew there would be no violence, very few, if any, curse words, no sexual
situations and not a poop joke. It would be mature man meeting mature lady,
mature man losing mature lady and mature man and mature lady living happily
after ever.
Guess what? That is just the picture I saw. Okay, Dustin Hoffman did have a
minute--only a minute---of haminess but there is still the boyishness of
Benjamin in him and Emma Thompson is aging beautifully.
They both mine every word, every sentence, adding an extra dash of humor or
irony or sadness here and there in the script to make the most of each
encounter.
Along with all this you get a great tourist's view of London and Paddington
making you want to take the next plane to England so you can walk along the
esplanade near the Thames.
James Brolin, Kathy Baker, Eileen Atkins (though she has a second plot line
that doesn't go anywhere until the credits role) and Richard Schiff add heft to
supporting roles while the rest of the characters in the screenplay are
basically nondescript and neither add or take away from the film.
Harvey (Hoffman) and Kate ()Thompson) almost meet 'cute' twice before they
finally hook up and a couple of improbable things happen, like Harvey buying
Kate a dress, but they do eventually seduce the audience that, yes, this could
have happened and brings you into a love story that you want to believe in.
This is an old fashioned love story more from the 1940s than from the world
of movies in 2009 but that is part of the appeal. Last Chance Harvey won't
change your life and will be forgotten a few minutes after you see it but while
you are watching this film, and Hoffman and Thompson, you will be thinking they
don't make movies like this anymore and regret they don't as you watch Mall Cop,
The Unborn or Bedtime Stories!!!
Last Chance Harvey is for romantics---like me!!
