juneebuggy A cute, bit of nothing romantic drama about two unlucky in love middle agers. Dustin Hoffman plays a new York jingle writer in London for his daughters wedding and Emma Thompson is a British government worker. They meet at an airport bar and manage to transform each others life.This was so well acted that the beginning was actually painful to watch; both characters are so uncomfortable and socially awkward, that you really feel sorry for them. Hoffman is excellent as his world crumbles, doing his best to hide his devastation over several life crises. This also managed to stay away from any movie clichés while providing a fun tour of London. 11.13

rooprect I'm not really in the habit of investigating the astrological qualities of directors, but when I checked IMDb's bio for writer/director Joel Hopkins, I immediately noticed it says he's a Virgo. "Ahhh," I said knowingly and leaned back, sipping on a chalice of cherry kool aid which I pretended was the blood of my enemies. I'm a scorpio.The stereotypical male Virgo qualities read like a description of the main character and the film's tone in general: "Quiet, undemonstrative and introvert. Gentle, helpful and sympathetic by nature, the Virgo men often face criticism for being finicky as they are very particular about how they want things to be.""Last Chance Harvey" is a quiet, undemonstrative and introverted film with a gentleness and precise delivery. It's the story of a couple of "5th wheels" (played by Dustin Hoffman & Emma Thompson) who suffer the daily indignity of slowly realizing that they don't fit in anywhere. Dustin's character is a divorced, failed father who has been squeezed out of his family by a more capable new step father in the mix. He is a TV composer by trade, but his archaic, old school approach has become obsolete in light of the snappier, edgier kids taking over the industry. He doesn't seem to have any friends or any life at all. Emma plays a similar character; she has a job as a survey taker at the airport where every day she is ignored or brushed aside by the thousands of people with more important schedules. She's single, awkward, cynical, and is the kind of person who ends up on dates with men who don't notice when she leaves.The movie asks the question: do these people have what it takes to break out of their rut? Or will they forever be hopeless schleps feeling sorry for themselves and embracing obscurity? It's obvious what they should do, but will they do it? And that's the mystery that makes this an interesting and original romcom.Also there's the fact that there aren't a whole lot of romcoms about late-40 and 50-something characters, let alone with great actors like this, so that itself is a novelty.Another bonus is some very nice London scenery. Is it me, or do all romcoms happen in New York City or LA these days? London, there's a refreshing change. And it was nice (albeit a little unrealistic) to see bright, sunny days in every shot, really highlighting the urban charm.So, like the Virgo description, there's not a lot of flashy drama, pizazz, car chases and crazy hijinks in this film. The humor is low key and "British" (for example, an ongoing subplot is Emma's cloistered mother who is convinced that their new neighbor is a creepy serial killer, so she stands at the window staring at him all day). And the "conflict" in Dustin & Emma's relationship isn't any great plot twist but rather the simple question of whether they're so entrenched in misery that they'll sabotage their own chance for happiness.Dustin & Emma displayed a great on-screen chemistry, not unlike they briefly had (just 1 scene) in the excellent film "Stranger than Fiction" a few years earlier. In fact, after seeing this movie I had to google if they were an item in real life. Alas, apparently not.In the end it was nothing in particular that made this an enjoyable film, but rather it was all the little exceptional qualities like the ones I've mentioned that made this a winner. If you like this sort of stuff.If, on the other hand, you find yourself wanting a somewhat more spontaneous, impetuous, explosive movie to watch, check out an Aries director like Quentin Tarantino.

filmviewingperson This is my first film review. Never before have I felt the need to contribute to the system, however in this case the system has let me down. As a regular user of IMDb, I often use the rating of a film in order to make a decision as to whether to watch a film or not. In the case of this film, the rating is way too high. At the time of writing it is 6.7! Literally nothing happens in this film. 1 hour and 25 minutes of nothing. It's your choice, but watching this film filled me with regret for the time I had lost. The high rating of this film (and the fact it stars Dustin) kept me thinking that something might happen; it did not - but once you get over that half way point, it feels like there's no turning back. I wrote this review during the last 5 minutes of the film. There is one good thing about this film, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, which is why I have given the film a rating of 2 and not 1.

Bolesroor "Last Chance Harvey" is, to me, a chance to see two great actors at work. That's it. That's all. It's an exhibition game, a free-skate, and it's a movie to be simply enjoyed, not analyzed.The great Dustin Hoffman here plays a middle-aged man, estranged from his ex-wife and adult daughter, estranged from his boss and industry, estranged from life. The enemy in this movie- though never explicitly stated- is mortality. The threat of death is what motivates Harvey to start a relationship with British spinster Kate, played by Emma Thompson. The movie does nicely parallel the true pattern of the aging baby-boomer generation... while only thirty years ago the thought of dating and marrying at age forty, fifty, sixty and beyond was unthinkable today it is commonplace. They are a generation that has never made peace with their own mortality and their solution is to become eternal teenagers.But back to the movie: the joy here is watching Hoffman and Thompson court and spark, enjoying themselves at a wedding and falling in love as they get to know one another. Dustin is so great an actor I could watch him read the phone book, and as usual he never hits a false note. Emma Thompson is good too, walking the fine line between tragic and pathetic, and it's great watching Kate awaken as Harvey spends his time on her.Okay, the plot doesn't offer much. Harvey's interactions with his ex and daughter put me in a coma, and his heart attack seemed contrived and anticlimactic. After all, just because he missed his park date with Kate doesn't mean he'll never see her again- he knows where she works for God's sake! But as I said before, this movie is not about plot... it's about hope, the hope that it's never too late to change your life or to find true love. Isn't that a very fine idea for a movie?GRADE: B-