Should Second Chances Always Be Given?

Last Chance Harvey suffers greatly from a script that feels like it follows Romantic Comedies 101. If this had been for a younger generation, a la Before Sunrise, it might have been more passable as realistic. Unfortunately for the plot but fortunate for the audience, the characters in this film are older, wiser, and played with brilliant subtlety by two of the most talented actors around.

Dustin Hoffman plays Harvey Shine, a slightly past middle-age musician, who finds his original compositions being turned into television jingles. Frustrated by threats of losing his job to a younger generation, Harvey takes off for an weekend trip to London to see his daughter married. It is at Heathrow that he meets Kate Walker (Thompson), a census taker that has had one bad date too many and spends most of her time on the phone with her eccentric mother (Eileen Atkins).

In a spiral of bad luck, Harvey loses his position of giving the bride away, his job, and his plane seat. Drowning his sorrows in the airport bar, he runs into Kate once again, and tries to strike up an awkward conversation. This is where the magic acting capabilities of these two screen legends truly begins. If Hoffman is ever hurting for work, he would make the worlds best used car salesman; Harvey is able to weave his way into Kate's world in a way that makes it plausible that two complete strangers, that shy away from most of life's awkward moments, would find companionship with each other in the span of an afternoon.

The film plays at an easy pace and tries to make the most out of the London location. The problems with this film emerge when it tries too hard to be something it is not -- a comedy. The subplot of Kate's mother fearing her neighbor is smoking human bodies in his backyard barbeque feel awkward and misplaced. So does the frivolous montage of Kate trying on dresses.

As with all films of this genre, there is a boy loses girl moment, that almost makes you groan out loud when it comes -- it is just too obvious and completely unnecessary. Too much time is spent at the beginning showing Harvey as inconsiderate and somewhat of a jerk to make it crucial for him to get the girl at the end. It is only in the palpable loneliness of Kate that the audience hopes for a happier ending for her sake. Whether Harvey is able to ultimately help her find that happiness is up to the audience to decide.

If writer/director Joel Hopkins would have left these characters in the actors more than capable hands, it would have been such an invigorating thing to see where they end up. Instead, the subpar script leaves the film enjoyable enough for a Saturday night rental, but not creating enough waves for an older audience to strike out to the theaters to see it, even with a senior discount.