Film Reviews

Last Chance Harvey

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Dustin Hoffman
• Details: US / 92mins (12A).

Dustin Hoffman plays the titular character, a divorced New York-based jingle writer whose career is on the slide. When he arrives in London for his daughter Susie's (Liane Balaban) wedding, Harvey realises how far apart he's grown from his family, as Susie has asked her stepfather (Brolin) to give her away. Feeling awkward and unwanted, Harvey decides not to attend the reception, but he misses his flight home and is fired from his job. Drowning his sorrows in the airport bar, Harvey meets airport employee and budding writer Kate (Thompson); Kate's got her own family problems - her reclusive, needy mother (Atkins) pulls out of her day and night and Kate's at the end of her tether. Kate and Harvey chat, realise they like each other and wander about London telling each other their regrets and the promises they broke.
Last Chance Harvey is a nice film played out by nice characters who say nice things while having a nice time. Hoffman and Thompson might be unable to take two steps without tripping over a cliche, but the likeability of the characters and the easy-going nature of the story makes ignoring the undemanding writing forgivable. Because this isn't a first love movie (Harvey and Kate aren't exactly teenagers), there's no expectation that Harvey will stand outside Thompson's bedroom with a ghetto blaster hoisted above his head, playing Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes at full volume, or make that romantic last minute dash for the train (although there is a hurried taxi ride), or punch Thompson's father in the face and run off into the night with her with promises of forever love. It's a quieter, more reserved film than that, and calls for quiet and reserved performances.
This is precisely what Hoffman and Thompson deliver. They might sleepwalk through the movie but that's not to say their performances are phoned in: their characters don't allow them to be anything more than polite, inoffensive and mature. What's asked for is subtle chemistry and that's what's here. Warm, tender and endearing, this Before Sunrise for the middle-aged is a welcome distraction from the teenage-orientated movies that clog up the summer's cinema.

Review by Gavin Burke