DVD REVIEW | Serena Donadoni | It would be easy to peg Last Chance Harvey as a Before Sunrise for the AARP set, but that would diminish its distinct pleasures. The late in life romance has enough examples to populate its own genre, but what makes this Last Chance more attune to In Search of a Midnight Kiss than The Bridges of Madison County is the way these unattached middle-aged characters find themselves as emotionally adrift as their twentysomething cinematic counterparts. Caught pleasantly off-guard by intense feelings, their unexpected ardor soon ignites a moribund hope that their dead-end daily routine is not set in stone. Last Chance Harvey harks back to wry, slice of life tales like Shirley Valentine (1989), where the eponymous British heroine doesn't actually fall in love with the sailboat-rocking Lothario or even sunny Greece, but how she feels when she's finally free of the confining walls that once defined her existence. There's an element of Shirley in the smart, lovely, but guarded Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a would-be writer who's in charge of compiling traveler surveys at Heathrow Airport. Kate is not a snarky singleton in the Bridget Jones mold: she's continually on the defensive because everyone around her treats her unmarried status as actually pitiable. She knows the difference between being alone and being lonely, and despite an active life, Kate finds herself slipping into the latter category. But during an airport lounge conversation that goes from casual to candid in a heartbeat, Kate's disarming honesty captures the attention of Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman), a sad sack jingle composer who's arrived in England to attend the wedding of his estranged daughter and is feeling more weary than jet-lagged. Kate inspires Harvey to pitch some woo, and he utilizes everything he can, from self-deprecating humor to tickling the ivories, and despite her wariness, she can't help but be enchanted by his quest for another — perhaps last — chance at making a connection. Writer and director Joel Hopkins (Jump Tomorrow) builds his low-key charmer on the lived-in performances of veterans Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, who imbue these two cautious individuals — briskly walking around chilly London in their sensible trench coats — with their own brand of swept away romance. There may be more hesitancy than heat in their first kiss (their exuberance tempered by a history of romantic disappointment), but with Last Chance Harvey, Hopkins displays an unwavering optimism, patience and tenderness. In that welcoming environment, genuine bursts of joy are allowed to bubble up from the submerged expectations of a couple falling in love while there's still time.
© 2009, Serena Donadoni. All rights reserved.
LAST CHANCE HARVEY | 2008
Writer and Director: Joel Hopkins | Cinematography: John de Borman | Music: Dickon Hinchliffe | Production Design: John Henson | Costume Design: Natalie Ward | Editing: Robin Sales | Producers: Tim Perell and Nicola Usborne | Released by Overture Films (theatrical), Anchor Bay Entertainment (DVD) | Running time: 99 minutes | Rated PG-13
Cast: Dustin Hoffman (Harvey Shine), Emma Thompson, (Kate Walker), Eileen Atkins (Maggie Walker), Laine Balaban (Susan), Daniel Lapaine (Scott), Kathy Baker (Jean), James Brolin (Brian), Richard Schiff (Marvin), Tim Howar (Johnnie), Wendy Mae Brown (Aggie), Bronagh Gallagher (Oonagh), Jeremy Sheffield (Matt), and Patrick Baladi (Simon).
