Post by BIGFANBOY on Jan 17, 2009 2:35:29 GMT -5
LAST CHANCE HARVEY
Review by Gary Dean Murray
When I saw the preview for Last Chance Harvey before Gran Torino, I though that the entire movie was in the trailer. The people who are putting together the promotional materials have basically told the tale in a scant few minutes. After seeing the movie, I found that I was more than right.
Starting in NYC, the movie follows Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) as he plays an original jazz composition on the piano. He seems to be putting his all into giving a soul to the 88 keys. Then the reality sets in. Harvey is actually a jingle writer, the guy who puts the music and magic into commercials and their soundtrack. After doing a rough mix of his newest creation, he finds that this is his last chance to land the client. He is an old man in the world of advertising and the bosses feel that a younger and hipper guy should be landing the clients. Harvey has to leave for England to attend his daughter's wedding but promises he'll be back soon. He is told not to rush.
On the other side of the film and the other side of the pond, Kate (Emma Thompson) works at the airport taking surveys as passengers exit the plane. She is singularly alone, dealing on a daily basis with her mother, a woman suspicious of her Slavic neighbor. Kate is fixed up by a fellow employee who is much younger and as different from her as night is to day. She is crushed by this set-up.
Harvey almost 'cute meets' Kate, but he is much too busy to be bothered with completing a survey. He checks into the hotel only to find that he is the only one at the wedding party who is actually there. It seems that his ex-wife and her husband have rented a house for the entire wedding party. He also finds that the step-father has been chosen by his daughter to give her away, taking her down the isle. A double crushing blow for our hero.
Knowing that his place is not with the wedding, Harvey makes a bee-line out of the country. He finds that he cannot get a flight back to NYC until the next day. In the airport bar, he again sees Kate and they engage in a conversation. Both seem smitten by the other, and thus begins a whirlwind day where two lonely people find each other and build a relationship that may or may not last the ages.
The rest of Last Chance Harvey is about two people discovering that even though they are miles apart in both distance and culture, they are much more similar in disposition. As they walk the streets of London, they fall in "movie" love. The performances by Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are wonderful. Dustin basically is playing a very much older version of Benjamin from The Graduate. He still has the devil may care smile and impish grin. But now he's a world weary adult who has been trampled over and over by society. Even though he is in the autumn of his cinema career, he still can command a camera lens.
It is refreshing to see Emma Thompson playing a woman and not a girl. In a world where only youth is cherished and Hollywood seems to place male actors with actresses who could be the daughter instead of the love interest, she is playing a character that is still relevant even after a few spins around the planetary elliptical. With so few roles crafted for a more mature women, she is a refreshing breath of English air.
The problem with Last Chance Harvey is that the screenplay doesn't take any chances. It is a display of obviousness. Within the first few frames you know the motivations of the characters and where the end of the character arc will be. If this film had been made in the 1930's it would have fared better. While not a bad movie, Last Chance Harvey offers nothing special. It is a nice winter diversion, but definitely something that will be forgotten by the thaw of the season.
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