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Movie Description
Set in London, this romantic comedy stars Dustin Hoffman as Harvey Shine, a divorced and haggard jingle-writer quickly aging out of his career and workaholic ways. With a warning from his boss (Richard Schiff) to not bother rushing back, Harvey goes to London, begrudgingly, for his daughter's wedding, fielding that work calls the whole time he's there. When Harvey greets his estranged daughter, Susie (Liane Balaban), it becomes clear just how far away he's grown from his family. The film never spells out in exactly what ways Harvey was a bad father, but it is clear he missed the boat when Susie asks her stepfather (James Brolin) to give her away. As Harvey leaves his heartbreak at the ceremony for an emergency work call, he misses his flight and gets fired. While nursing a whiskey at the airport bar, Harvey bumps into Kate (Emma Thompson), an airport employee escaping her own bad day with a glass of wine and a book. Suddenly taken by Kate's British charm, a tipsy Harvey bombards her with tales of his trouble. This unlikely trading of sob stories leads to lunch, a walk around London, and a day of unexpected romance.
Thompson is charming as Kate, a lonely middle-age woman struggling to deal with her mother's constant prying into her life. Despite not having had the best of luck in romance, Kate is an optimist at heart, and it's this spark for life that attracts Harvey and ultimately helps repair his image in his daughter's eyes. Never showy or too ambitious, Joel Hopkins's slow-paced romance twists old clichés to suit a more adult audience. While not groundbreaking in its plot, LAST CHANCE HARVEY is saved by great performances from the always-solid Hoffman and the incredibly charming Thompson, who makes an otherwise familiar story feel fresh., Though Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman didn't share much screen time in their first film together, STRANGER THAN FICTION, it's their interaction that drives this romantic drama. Hoffman stars as Harvey Shine, an American man in London for his daughter's wedding. After getting fired on the phone, he meets a British singleton (Thompson) in the airport bar, and things begin to look up for the formerly unlucky man.
Industry Reviews
3 stars out of 4 -- "The film's biggest asset is the pitch-perfect performances of the two stars....It takes two consummate actors to make quickly escalating chemistry feel so natural."
USA Today - Claudia Puig (12/24/2008)
"[A] small and surprisingly hopeful film, with beautifully attenuated performances by Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, who slip into the characters Hopkins has sewn for them like an old sweater."
Los Angeles Times - Betsy Sharkey (12/25/2008)
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] Dustin Hoffman- and Emma Thompson-toplined battered romance about growing old and dealing with the life we've made for ourselves."
Box Office - Phil Contrino (01/01/2009)
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A]cting this richly funny and touching is too good to resist....Hoffman and Thompson work the necessary magic. It's the pleasure of their company that makes this an affair to remember."
Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (01/22/2009)
"Hoffman and Thompson are each good enough to bring out a glow in the other." -- Grade: B-
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (01/16/2009)
"LAST CHANCE HARVEY winds up being a touching portrait of that rarity in the movies: a recognizably human couple with recognizably human problems and quirks."
Washington Post (01/16/2009)
"This sentimental romantic comedy about two aging misfits who find unlikely love benefits enormously from the casting of Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson....They pull it off with a professional nonchalance that is fun to watch."
Hollywood Reporter - Kirk Honeycutt (11/09/2008)
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