Last Chance Harvey

OPENING: 01/16/2009

STUDIO: Overture Films

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
First loves, last chances, and everything in between.

Opening Statement
I really wanted to like Last Chance Harvey. There are precious few romances involving mature adults… and so few genuinely romantic movies these days. Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are two very fine actors, and I was quite excited by the possibility of seeing the on the screen together. I did quite like Last Chance Harvey and loved the two main characters, but it’s a little difficult not to be disappointed by the film’s predictable dips into convention.

Facts of the Case
Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) isn’t a particularly happy man. Currently working in a somewhat unsatisfying job as a television commercial composer, his superiors are hinting he may soon be let go, if his work doesn’t improve. Harvey is flying to London for his daughter’s wedding, but the experience will undoubtedly be a rather bittersweet one, as he has a rather thorny relationship with his ex-wife (Jane Lynch) and her husband (James Brolin). When he arrives in London, visiting with family members and long-lost friends, old wounds began to re-open, and Harvey becomes increasingly despondent.

Kate (Emma Thompson) isn’t a particularly happy woman, but she isn’t unhappy, either. She’s just mildly content in her own comfortable state of misery. Kate feels nothing remarkable will ever work out for her, and nothing ever seems to. Her recent dates have turned out rather poorly, and her job as a survey conductor for an airline has not been exceptionally exciting or interesting. Each day, she deals with the paranoid phone calls and ravings of her meddlesome mother, and attempts to find solace every now and then in a paperback novel and glass of Chardonnay.

One day, Harvey and Kate happen to be at the same bar drowning their miseries in various forms of alcohol. Both have had particularly bad days, feeling isolated and lonely. After a bit of slightly argumentative conversation, they begin to chat. One thing leads to another, and Harvey and Kate both begin to quietly suspect they may have met a very special person. It probably couldn’t work out in the long term, because Harvey lives in America and Kate lives in London. Even so, they continue to move forward, in the hope something that feels so right will end happily. Have these two people found a soul mate in each other?

The Evidence
The core of Last Chance Harvey works. As a story about two people falling in love under unlikely circumstances, it’s a lovely movie. There is a masterful extended sequence, early in the film, in which we cut back and forth between Harvey and Kate. Harvey is attending his daughter’s rehearsal dinner, and finds himself feeling increasingly isolated from everyone around him. Meanwhile, Kate is on a blind date that is interrupted by several of her date’s friends, and quickly turns into a social gathering that makes her feel a bit alienated. This sequence immediately gave me an emotional connection to these two characters, and I suspect it will do the same for others. Are you the sort of person who has a bit of difficulty having a good time at most social gatherings? Are you the person who winds up wandering into another room to just sit and think, while everyone else laughs and tells stories? I confess, I am such a person, and as such I cared a great deal about Harvey and Kate, hoping they could find happiness together.

The film only occasionally hits that level of reflective insight, but when it’s good, it’s really good. Hoffman and Thompson are simply wonderful here, both together and apart. Seeing two actors of this caliber take on romantic leads made me very happy indeed, and the two have wonderful chemistry. Their conversations are a pleasure to listen to, written as two complex human beings with nuanced personalities. I liked all the little touches. For instance, Harvey can name the author of almost any well-known book, despite the fact that he has never actually read any of them. He seems precisely like the sort of person who would know more about what famous people have done, rather than personally experiencing the joys of their work.

Alas, the film tries rather persistently to drag this couple into the realm of the mundane. The original score is insistently sentimental, and occasionally commits the grievous offense of drowning out an interesting conversation in a generic wash of happiness. We are forced to sit through one of those ridiculous trying-on-clothes montages that appear oh-so-frequently in romantic comedies. The usual third act “break-up caused by a dumb misunderstanding followed by some apologies and a romantic conclusion” thing also rears its ugly head, much to the dismay of yours truly.

Closing Statement
Last Chance Harvey could have been significantly better than it is. If only it would have let some of the stronger moments serve as the film’s tonal guide, it could have been one of the best of 2008. As it is, we’re stuck with a pretty average film featuring above-average characters. It’s worth seeing, if only to spend 90 minutes with two people like Kate and Harvey. I could have listened to a conversation between these two all day.

The Verdict
7/10