“I think I'm more comfortable with being disappointed … I think I'm angry at you for trying to take that away.” -- Kate to Harvey
I have to admit that I came to “Last Chance Harvey” with much of the begrudging wariness that I experienced with “Nights in Rodanthe.” After all, any movie set in Europe and cast with the diminutive Dustin Hoffman and the aging Emma Thompson surely doesn’t scream out, “Watch me!” to anyone who also enjoys football or eating dinner after 4 p.m. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised when “Last Chance Harvey” turned to have a charming enough undercurrent to sweep you along all the way ‘til the end.
In the beginning, Dustin Hoffman’s Michael Scott-type character, Harvey Shine, was so awkward and depressing that it was extraordinarily difficult to look at. As a past-his-prime jingle writer who is divorced, Harvey is getting pushed out of his job just as he’s embarking on a trip across the pond to his estranged daughter’s wedding in London. While there, he has to endure a host of slights, not the least of which comes when his daughter informs him that she has decided that her stepfather will give her away instead of him. Partially because of and in addition to this, he learns that he has to leave London directly after the wedding and before the reception to return to New York on business—which he sees as a last-ditch attempt to protect his relevance and his job.
Long story short (yeah, right), Harvey misses his flight after the wedding, then gets fired from the one rewarding thing in his life over the phone, finding himself stuck in Heathrow Airport with nothing to keep him there and seemingly nothing to return to. As he hits the airport bar rather hard, he strikes up an awkward conversation with an airport survey-taker who is on break, Kate Walker (played by Emma Thompson). She’s middle-aged or later, single, and haunted by a guilt-tripping, invasive, intrusive mother, so, like Harvey, she isn’t in the best state of mind. Against all odds, the two strike up a quick kinship, and with nowhere to go and nothing to do, Harvey borderline stalks her as she goes to class and walks home.
With London serving as a tremendous backdrop and minor character, Harvey and Kate share a long, memorable, great day. At one point, Kate tells Harvey that, since he is still in London and his daughter’s reception is still going on, he simply has to attend. Predictably, he agrees only if Kate comes as his date, spurring a shopping-for-a-dress scene that you’ve seen 608 times before. Just as the movie is lagging, however, Hoffman rescues it when he interrupts his daughter’s stepfather during the toast that is supposed to be given by his daughter’s father. Disarming a potentially hyper-awkward situation, Harvey finds the singular great moment he’s been looking for, delivering an emotional and heartfelt toast. When Kate begins to feel out of place during the reception, she attempts to leave, but Harvey notices her escape at the last minute and serenades her back with some jazz piano (he always wanted to be a jazz pianist).
The two are supposed to meet again the next day, but like in “An Affair to Remember,” circumstances intervene (providing a nice segue to a European socialized medicine moment) and Kate is left waiting for Harvey, and we see on her face that she never believed in this working anyway. Both Harvey and Kate have been hurt and damaged in relationships so often that they expect the worst to happen, but Harvey—who spends the movie alternating between confidence, lack of confidence and self-deprecation—refuses to give up on the idea of them. In the end, Harvey is offered his old job back, but he turns it down, electing to stay in London and pursue Kate. He tells his old boss, “It’s my last chance,” and he seems to be convincing himself as he utters the words.
Written and directed by Joel Hopkins, “Last Chance Harvey” turned out to be a tender movie, with some funny, kind-hearted moments mixed in. The flick features some good music that changes to reflect the mood of the current scene, highlighting the underlying message that love can be found in the most unlikely of places and circumstances. In that sense, he reminded me quite a bit of “Girl in the Café,” one of my favorite movies. It goes without saying that the understated Hoffman and the charming Thompson carry the movie, and both were nominated for Golden Globes as a result. Despite an uncomfortable beginning that led one to wonder this would turn out to be among the most depressing hours and a half of your life, “Last Chance Harvey” emerges as worthwhile—making me glad that I gave it a second chance after all.
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