Last Chance Harvey

A Review By Roger Knowles

Dustin Hoffman looks like a cross between the Potato Man and an unmade bed, but his acting skills are so profound that you hardly notice. He is the perfect foil for… well, anybody, but Emma Thompson and he work together as if it was meant to be one of the great screen partnerships. Not because their characters are huge, important or celebrities. Anything but. Harvey Shine and Kate Walker are two ordinary people, bruised from the experiences in their lives, yet still willing to consider adventure. They represent you and me – we can all identify with, and cheer for, these ‘little people’ making good, finding a new romance in their middle years.

Satisfying and uplifting, this romantic drama portrays an everyday struggler as a person standing in the wings of his own life, waiting to go onstage as the hero. It is the story of Harvey’s ‘last chance’ – in more than one sense. A failed family man, Harvey is a jingle-writing New York musician on the brink of career failure. He absorbs additional body blows when he arrives in London for his only daughter’s marriage. He is booked into a hotel far from the mansion occupied by the other members of the family, is allocated the worst seats at gatherings and informed that the bride will be given away by his ex-wife’s suave second husband (played with dignified largesse by James Brolin). The storyline is predictable in all but the finer details. It nevertheless makes compelling cinema, by reason of the fine performances by the actors and the beautiful setting – London on a string of magical summer days.

I have kept the last word for Emma Thompson. A charming genius, she brilliantly portrays the reluctant romantic, frightened but unbowed by life, far more beautiful than she might ever hope or acknowledge. Her desire to find a lasting relationship is balanced by the sum of her personal doubt and her nervousness concerning the fragility of human connection. Kate’s mischievous Irish friend plays a wonderful cameo role, setting her up with a blind date and trying to nudge her into happiness with a man.

Romantics will enjoy this movie. It is not however a ‘chick flick’; its message is as much for men as women – where there is courage, there is always hope.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney. For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/