Customer Reviews

Last Chance Harvey [DVD]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

'Last Chance Harvey' is a romantic drama that received a positive response from both the critics and the audience on its release.

The movie tells the story of two lonely people, Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) who travels from the USA to London for his daughters wedding and Kate (Emma Thompson) who is looking for love.

The movie starts off in an emotional manner and ends on a feel-good note. The movie also contains a pinch of light-hearted comedy, which perfectly lifts up the mood. It's simply a clean and subtle movie.

Dustin Hoffman is clearly the show-stealer, producing a charming, mature performance and also being humorous at the same time. The way Hoffman expresses his emotions via his eyes in a few scenes is SUPERB. Emma Thompson enacts her role with natural ease and elegance. The brilliant chemistry between Hoffman and Thompson is the highlight of the movie.

The direction provided by Joel Hopkins is impressive as he extracts excellent performances from the lead actors.

The background music score, which is provided by Dickon Hinchliffe is also worth an applause as it is soothing and perfectly compliments the story.

The movie would have turned out to be an average fare if it was not for Hoffman and Thompson.

'Last Chance Harvey' is a delightful and competent movie, which deserves a watch.

Nice flick.

Warning - don't watch this film if you like 'all-action' movies as it certainly is not one of them; don't watch this films if you like your romances full of sex and glamour as there is none of that either; and don't watch this film if you don't feel empathy for others and don't like films about feelings. There is plenty going on but you need a brain (and a soul) to see it.

For once we have two actors who, despite their ability to portray the glamour of Hollywood, can nevertheless realistically play everyday people with doubts, fears and problems. The film shows that there is some sort of transformation for all of us and for these two how they have to shed the baggage of their pasts to face a better future.

A charming film with no sex, bad language or car chases! It owes much to the excellent acting of the two stars. Over the course of the film you come to see that the main characters, two no-hopers with a significant age gap, should be together. This is sweet, thoroughly enjoyable and makes a nice change. Despite having several American characters (principally Hoffman's), this feels very British.

The plot of 'Last Chance Harvey' is thirteen to the dozen. Older, desillusioned man, divorced, estranged from his spouse and out of a job, meets single woman, independent in every field and in denial of dire need of affection. Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman succeed in taking this well worn concept to new heights. Set against London in autumn as background Harvey Shine (Hoffman) incidentally bumps into Kate Walker(Thompson) without really noticing her. They bump into each other again and they both remember the initial bump. From this point on the relationship blossoms with two steps forward and one step back, resulting in Kate and Harvey walking off, through autumn leaves, along the Thames, to pastures new. Powerful chemistry between the two leads make for top class entertainment. I enjoyed this cimematic artefact stretched out on the settee, with a bottle of bubbly at hand. Please note Kate's mother and her imaginary dangerous Polish neighbour. Eileen Atkins portrays mum superbly. Cherry on the cake.

This film sounded like it could be fantastic. The adverts really appealed to me, and the fact it starred 2 fantastic actors, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson assured me that it would be a good watch. I liked the idea of 2 older actors in a film, falling in love with each other, rather than a cast of young actors in a typical rehashed plot. Dustin Hoffman's character, Harvey Shine, was awful. He came across as a creepy American, a down and out guy who puts his job over his family, even his daughter's wedding and therefore I found it hard to get any sympathy for him at all. I thought maybe as the film progressed, I'd warm more to him but it was the opposite. I simply disliked him more for his stalking of Kate (Emma Thompson) and he just seemed entirely uncomfortable throughout the movie. It's a pity as I usually love Hoffman but in this film, he just didn't work for me at all.

Emma Thompson faired better than Hoffman, but I can definitely say this isn't her finest hour either. She plays frazzled airline employee Kate, a woman unlucky in love and stuck with a somewhat overbearing mother who is obsessed with her Polish next door neighbour. Thompson tries to inject some humour into her role, but it felt a bit flat for me. She didn't really have much chemistry with Hoffman either, which made it harder for me to really believe in the story of their friendship and possible love interest too. One person I did feel did a good job was Liane Balaban as Harvey's daughter Susan, she did a good job portraying the emotion of a let-down daughter, somehow used to being let down by her father again and again. There were some awkward scenes in there, making you cringe a bit because it's sad how poor their relationship is.

The movie is set in London, a pretty nice backdrop to the film. Harvey does live in America but comes over for the wedding of his daughter who now lives in London. There's quite a few scenes at an airport (I think it may be Heathrow for some exterior shots), a few across London but not many landmarks are seen which is a shame. It does look a little dreary though, nothing really special and doesn't add anything much to the film at all. I can't really mention the soundtrack either, because I don't remember anything about it, it can't have been that good! I have to say that I just found the whole friendship between Kate and Harvey rather odd, she goes from finding him a bit of a nuisance to allowing this strange American man to follow her across London, a bit like a stalker, just felt totally false and weird to me, it felt so wrong!

Overall, you can probably guess that I was really disappointed by this movie. I expected so much more, not only from the story but from its actors as well. Yes, there were a few comedy moments which made me laugh but they were few and far between which was such a shame. I hated Hoffman's character with a passion, I couldn't feel sorry for him and his situation, even though I think we were meant to be able to sympathise with him. Emma Thompson is pretty average alongside him, and gives an unmemorable performance here, she certainly doesn't live up to her roles in Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee for me. I was so sad when it ended that I didn't enjoy it more, my parents don't really get what I didn't like about it, but sadly for me it was just everything. A big disappointment, and not one I recommend.

Dustin Hoffman displays a gentle humour throughout but then delivers a quite moving speech at his daughter's wedding and you want to cheer when he finally tells his boss he's quitting for good. Emma Thompson plays the reluctant partner to perfection, getting gradually caught up in his persistent charm. Not a 'great' film, but one which will get many replays in our house.

Lovely, warm love story. So refreshing to see a gentle, sensitive film of a developing relationship in later life when neither thought they would find anyone again. Great acting.

I was sat at home one wet sunday afternoon and came across this film on Sky Movies. This has a lot in common with One Fine Day ... in that it sounds like its going to be corny and formulaic. However, it kind of creeps up on you and is very watchable.

I ended up really enjoying it and in particular Dustin Hoffman plays an understated but highly believable part as Harvey Shine, an American musician who writes music for films and Tv ads. Having seen his career slowly decline since his divorce and subsequent relationship with alcohol, he is eventually chopped from an important account and told to take an extended break when he travels to London for his daughters wedding, where more disappointing news greets him. Just when he feels like he has hit rock bottom and an afternoon with a whiskey bottle looks inevitable, he has a chance meeting in an airport bar with Emma Thompson. And so begins a wistful little tale of a man re-discovering his spark and enjoyment for the smaller things in life. There is just a great acting chemistry between Hoffman and Thompson and I found this to be a pleasant film that didn't require a great deal of concentration but at the same time, I didn't want to turn it off because I just wanted to find out how things worked out in the end for Harvey.

I guarantee you will pay good money to watch a lot of mega-hyped films and they won't make as good viewing as this film. For the guys ...if you have to stay in with the other half and watch a "chick flick" ... offer this up as an option. Give it a try.

This is a gentle, intelligent movie with fine performances from both Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson in the lead roles.

As the storyline has already been revealed in other reviews (0_o) I won't go into it again, but I think the key strength of this film is in the normality of the lives the two characters lead, with all their doubts, embarrassments and annoyances laid out for all to see. Hoffman in particular plays this especially well, and with what appears to be minimal effort (his wedding speech being a perfect example).

Refreshing also to see two top-notch actors who are not afraid to look like *real* people: wrinkles, smudged mascara (Thompson!) and all. And they both look a helluva lot more attractive for it (take note Hollywood).

Recommended.

I think maybe I'd built it up in my head it would have been better but saying that it's a perfectly pleasant film but possibly worth waiting for it to come out on TV or if in bargain bin you can't go wrong. Sounds negative but I think it was just my expectations because I was really looking forward to seeing it so don't let me put you off.