No chance of me ever watching this again (Last Chance Harvey (DVD))

Member Name: Chelle1969

Product:	Last Chance Harvey (DVD)
Date:	15/06/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thankfully not too long

Disadvantages: Predictable, formulaic and characters lack depth

A review of the film only, DVD released September 28th 2009

Cast:
Dustin Hoffman
Emma Thompson
Eileen Atkins
James Brolin

Synopsis
Billed as a 'Romantic comedy full of laughs, love and last chances' it tells the story of two single adults; divorced Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) in London for his daughters wedding and Kate Walker (Emma Thompson) a wannabe writer working as a market researcher at Heathrow airport. Both characters are disillusioned with their lives, Harvey composes music jingles for adverts but is being edged out of his job by a younger generation, in addition he feels like an outsider in his estranged daughters life when she asks her step father (James Brolin) to give her away at the wedding instead of him. Kate has a bored mother (Eileen Atkins) and work colleagues who are all dismayed that's she's still single and are determined to see her set up with a man. The two meet and, well you can guess the rest...

Opinion
With two academy award winning actors in the leading roles, this had the potential to be a great film, but alas it fails miserably.
I'm quite a fan of Dustin Hoffman and he does okay in this, he plays the slightly bumbling Harvey quite well, but I couldn't help thinking that he needs more to get his teeth into. And therein lies the problem with this film - the story. It's a bog standard boy-meets-girl-boy-and-girl-fall-in-love romance but with (very) grown-up characters, been done a million times before (usually with Hugh Grant in the lead!) and very, very formulaic.

Considering it's supposed to be a comedy it lacks any laughs, and just about anything to hold a viewers attention. I found myself watching the London backdrop and noting all the places I'd also been as they had a day out in the city.

Every part of the story can be successfully predicted at least ten minutes before it happens - there are no surprises in this movie.
There's a ridiculous parallel story running through the film involving Kate's mother's Polish neighbour who she thinks may be barbecuing people in his garden shed, but like the rest of the film, there's no story there either - I guessed what was going on there from the outset.

If you like this type of film genre then you'll probably quite enjoy this, it's inoffensive and quite charming I suppose. The chemistry between the two leads is good, despite the 22 year age difference, and Thompson in particular gives a good performance. I just wish the characters had a little more depth; for instance why is the witty and attractive Kate single? Why is Harvey estranged from his daughter? I wish that the story had been a little less predictable, I would have loved to have been able, just once, to say, "ooh I didn't see that coming".

I'm not sure why the film is rated as 12A, apart from one (spoken) reference to sex, I didn't really notice anything likely to disturb a younger audience, there's no violence featured. But as I'm not a parent myself, I may not be the best person to judge the suitability for children.

Details
Written & Directed by Joel Hopkins
Cert 12A
Running time: 93 minutes
More info www.lastchanceharvey.co.uk

Summary: A pleasant enough, but unremarkable film - I recommend you wait till it comes on TV