This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Not that infamous Harvey, who doesn't merit a last chance at any rate, this is his fellow American, the amicable Harvey Shine (Hoffman, who ironically, has been mired in his own misconduct scandal in the MeToo era), a divorced, middle-aged musician specializes in writing jingles for commercial use, who plans to spend a weekend to attend his daughter's wedding in London, but ends up extending his stay indefinitely when romance beckons. Contemporaneously in London, Kate Walker (Thompson), an unmarried airport staff, is the cynosure of her mother Maggie's (Atkins) idle life (save for suspecting her new Polish neighbor is a corpse-hoarding killer), buffeted with the latter's unremitting phone calls, and just when Harvey comes in for a politely reserved reception in the dinner before the wedding, Kate is subjected to an awkward blind date that doesn't go anywhere, their binary trajectories are self-evident in verging together later (actually they had a short encounter in the airport and an odd chance as sequential passengers of a taxi), but before that comes to the fore, British director Joel Hopkins has something to flog to death.So, everything must plunge to the absolute nadir for Harvey before it bottoms out, he is wantonly secluded from the rest of the wedding guests, apparently under the behest of his ex-wife Jean (Baker), and is dwarfed by the latter's current hubby Brian (a none other than James Brolin, the silver fox and Mr. Barbra Steisand himself), both in appearance and in close affinity with his daughter Susan (Lapaine), who does have the temerity to ask Harvey to waive his fatherly right of leading her to the alter; across the Atlantic, his boss Marvin (Schiff) twists the knife in his wound by firing him on the phone when Harvey misses the plane after a low-key presence of Susan's wedding ceremony. If one can survive those aforementioned heavy-handed and cookie-cutter build-up, everything definitely lightens up from the chance meeting between Harvey and Kate in the airport bar with a quirky stiff-upper-lip mimicry as the icebreaker, whereupon, in the successful mode of Richard Linklater's BEFORE... trilogy, their growing interaction plays out through incessant but significantly less philosophical small talk, until Kate encourages and accompanies him to attend Susan's wedding reception in the evening, a fairly pleasant familial reconciliation is chalked up, but the next day, a hiccup nearly ruins their budding romance, and guess who has the say-so in the end? Both Hoffman and Thompson sustain their roles brilliantly with either a fish-out-of-water awkwardness meld with affable sincerity or a touching vulnerability that only hints at past baggage, and their niceties of vamping up even the hoariest happenstances pay dividends in this workmanlike love story for grow-ups who might look for a second chance or a fresh start.

Last Chance Harvey (2008): Dir: Joel Hopkins / Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, James Brolin, Kathy Baker, Eileen Atkins: Charming romantic comedy about relationships. Dustin Hoffman plays Harvey who flies in to attend his daughter's wedding only to learn that she desires to be given away by her step-father. Central plot regards a friendship he strikes up with a woman who has equal problems with relationships. Predictable but satisfying directed by Joel Hopkins with a great deal of feeling and a touch of humour. Hoffman and Emma Thompson are on cue as a couple accepting last chances at love. Hoffman resents the fact that his daughter prefers her stepfather to him but his dilemma is sidetracked only with this new relationship. Third act works because of a meeting that doesn't occur and the reasoning and the resolution. Thompson is equally good in her quest for a reasonable relationship. Unfortunately supporting roles are not very broad or appealing, which feature James Brolin and Kathy Baker among others. They are secondary fillers playing forgettable roles of little importance. Well crafted film that gains much appeal through its leads but other roles from the daughter to the stepfather to the mother are all underwritten and cardboard. Strong theme where Harvey gains a last chance not just in love but also at being a father. Score: 8 / 10

I'm not really in the habit of investigating the astrological qualities of directors, but when I checked IMDb's bio for writer/director Joel Hopkins, I immediately noticed it says he's a Virgo. "Ahhh," I said knowingly and leaned back, sipping on a chalice of cherry kool aid which I pretended was the blood of my enemies. I'm a scorpio.The stereotypical male Virgo qualities read like a description of the main character and the film's tone in general: "Quiet, undemonstrative and introvert. Gentle, helpful and sympathetic by nature, the Virgo men often face criticism for being finicky as they are very particular about how they want things to be.""Last Chance Harvey" is a quiet, undemonstrative and introverted film with a gentleness and precise delivery. It's the story of a couple of "5th wheels" (played by Dustin Hoffman & Emma Thompson) who suffer the daily indignity of slowly realizing that they don't fit in anywhere. Dustin's character is a divorced, failed father who has been squeezed out of his family by a more capable new step father in the mix. He is a TV composer by trade, but his archaic, old school approach has become obsolete in light of the snappier, edgier kids taking over the industry. He doesn't seem to have any friends or any life at all. Emma plays a similar character; she has a job as a survey taker at the airport where every day she is ignored or brushed aside by the thousands of people with more important schedules. She's single, awkward, cynical, and is the kind of person who ends up on dates with men who don't notice when she leaves.The movie asks the question: do these people have what it takes to break out of their rut? Or will they forever be hopeless schleps feeling sorry for themselves and embracing obscurity? It's obvious what they should do, but will they do it? And that's the mystery that makes this an interesting and original romcom.Also there's the fact that there aren't a whole lot of romcoms about late-40 and 50-something characters, let alone with great actors like this, so that itself is a novelty.Another bonus is some very nice London scenery. Is it me, or do all romcoms happen in New York City or LA these days? London, there's a refreshing change. And it was nice (albeit a little unrealistic) to see bright, sunny days in every shot, really highlighting the urban charm.So, like the Virgo description, there's not a lot of flashy drama, pizazz, car chases and crazy hijinks in this film. The humor is low key and "British" (for example, an ongoing subplot is Emma's cloistered mother who is convinced that their new neighbor is a creepy serial killer, so she stands at the window staring at him all day). And the "conflict" in Dustin & Emma's relationship isn't any great plot twist but rather the simple question of whether they're so entrenched in misery that they'll sabotage their own chance for happiness.Dustin & Emma displayed a great on-screen chemistry, not unlike they briefly had (just 1 scene) in the excellent film "Stranger than Fiction" a few years earlier. In fact, after seeing this movie I had to google if they were an item in real life. Alas, apparently not.In the end it was nothing in particular that made this an enjoyable film, but rather it was all the little exceptional qualities like the ones I've mentioned that made this a winner. If you like this sort of stuff.If, on the other hand, you find yourself wanting a somewhat more spontaneous, impetuous, explosive movie to watch, check out an Aries director like Quentin Tarantino.

"Last Chance Harvey" is, to me, a chance to see two great actors at work. That's it. That's all. It's an exhibition game, a free-skate, and it's a movie to be simply enjoyed, not analyzed.The great Dustin Hoffman here plays a middle-aged man, estranged from his ex-wife and adult daughter, estranged from his boss and industry, estranged from life. The enemy in this movie- though never explicitly stated- is mortality. The threat of death is what motivates Harvey to start a relationship with British spinster Kate, played by Emma Thompson. The movie does nicely parallel the true pattern of the aging baby-boomer generation... while only thirty years ago the thought of dating and marrying at age forty, fifty, sixty and beyond was unthinkable today it is commonplace. They are a generation that has never made peace with their own mortality and their solution is to become eternal teenagers.But back to the movie: the joy here is watching Hoffman and Thompson court and spark, enjoying themselves at a wedding and falling in love as they get to know one another. Dustin is so great an actor I could watch him read the phone book, and as usual he never hits a false note. Emma Thompson is good too, walking the fine line between tragic and pathetic, and it's great watching Kate awaken as Harvey spends his time on her.Okay, the plot doesn't offer much. Harvey's interactions with his ex and daughter put me in a coma, and his heart attack seemed contrived and anticlimactic. After all, just because he missed his park date with Kate doesn't mean he'll never see her again- he knows where she works for God's sake! But as I said before, this movie is not about plot... it's about hope, the hope that it's never too late to change your life or to find true love. Isn't that a very fine idea for a movie?GRADE: B-