Hoffman, Thompson Make Harvey a Comedy to Savor
Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) is a New York commercial jingle composer on the verge of losing his job. Faced with the prospect of having to please his last remaining major account or else, he’s also got to be in London over the weekend to attend his daughter Susan’s (Liane Balaban) wedding. Somewhat split off from the rest of the clan, he figures he can go to the nuptials, walk his daughter down the aisle, give her a fatherly embrace and then head back to Heathrow for a flight back to the Big Apple.
Dustin Hoffman and Liane Balaban in Overture Films' Last Chance Harvey
Problem is, Susan wants her mom Jean’s (Kathy Baker) second husband Brian (James Brolin) to give her away. On top of that, the whole family has pretty much gone out of their way to make sure he’s as separate from them as humanly possible, Harvey never feeling as alone and as unwanted as any other point in his life.
Things only get worse when he misses his flight. Forced to stay the rest of the day in London, he meets quietly introspective airport statistician Kate (Emma Thompson) virtually forcing her into an awkward bar stool conversation. For some reason these two seem to hit it off and the next thing both em know they’re wandering around the city discussing their lives in far more intimate detail than either has in ages. A window into what’s missing has suddenly been opened, as the hours pass both of them start to wonder whether or not they’ve almost accidentally stumbled upon something extraordinary.
Last Chance Harvey is as good a romantic comedy as I’ve see in quite some time. Old pros Hoffman and Thompson have exquisite chemistry, each of their scenes together just crackling in emotionally honest electricity. More than that, there is real depth to the characters, real drama and heartache to their predicaments, all of it adding together to create flesh and blood figures anyone no matter what their age able to relate to.
Writer and director Joel Hopkins has really put himself together a winner here. It’s almost as if he’s taken the story of Ben Braddock and Elaine Robinson and transplanted into the here and now, that youthful flamboyant exuberance replaced by a weary winsomeness of regret and missed opportunities that can’t help but break a person’s heart. Harvey and Jean share a scene together at the rehearsal dinner that just bristles in chaotic magnetism, the pair’s entire up and down history related in one’s guiltily frenetic gulp of whiskey and the other’s somewhat embarrassed sideways grin of happy remembrance.
But just because those two couldn’t get over their own personal bridge of troubled water, that doesn’t mean this seemingly forgotten man has killed off that energizing spark which made him such a catch in the first place. It’s just buried within, the equally fractured and hurting Kate the perfect woman to dig it out of him. Together they reignite one another’s hearts, their journey through the city taking both to palces so stirring and rapturous I almost didn’t want their cobblestone walks to come to an end.
It should be noted that there are very few surprises. I knew exactly what was going to happen almost from the very start, savvy audiences able to pick out all the director’s foreshadows with no difficulty whatsoever. I also had a minor problem with an extremely weird subplot concerning Kate’s homebound mother (admittedly nicely played by the great Eileen Atkins) and her new Polish next door neighbor. While this tangent produces a couple of very funny lines (the best of them concerning a humongous smoked ham sitting in the linen closet) it doesn’t pay off, and as much as I loved the remainder of the picture this is one portion that probably should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Still, Last Chance Harvey is a movie to savor. Actors like Hoffman and Thompson seldom get roles as good as these anymore, both of them having absolute field days bringing them to life. Hours after the film had ended I couldn’t get either of them out of my head, little moments between the two on almost continual rewind as I gloried in them over and over again. Hopkins has really outdone himself, and whatever it is he decides to turn his attentions towards next he’s made enough of an impression upon me I guarantee I’ll be first in line to see it.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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