| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Harvey Makes Most Out Of His Last Chance
by Brain (movies profile)
Jan 7, 2009
9
of
16 people found this review helpful
British movies often come across as dull, occasionally there are really good movies either made in or set in England. "Last Chance Harvey" is a American Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) ventures to London for his daughter's wedding, Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), struggling with a possessive mother, a rote job and impinging loneliness. Who doesn't see where this is going? Harvey is a songwriter for television commercials, he does the jingles that no one pays attention to. In England Kate does her job asking passengers survey questions after they land at Heathrow Airport. After a long day at work Harvey has to take a flight to England for his daughter Susan's (Liane Balaban) wedding. When he gets off the plane and is walking down the runway he runs into Kate, he brushes her off, telling her he is tired. When he gets to the hotel that has been booked for him he finds out that his ex wife Jean (Kathy Baker) and her new husband Brian (James Brolin) have rented a house for everyone except Harvey. Harvey gets to the reception and feels a little awkward with the people he hasn't seen since his divorce. When Harvey left New York he was told by his boss Marvin (Richard Schiff) that he should stay in England for the wedding party, that there was no reason to rush back, that the job he was working on could be handled by some one else. Harvey is relegated to the foot of the family table, and decides to go sit in the bar, Susan comes and tells Harvey she has decided she wants Brian to give her away. This stuns Harvey but he agrees to what Susan wants. After the wedding Harvey tries to get back to Heathrow Airport, but traffic stalls him and he is late for his flight. He decides to go get a drink in the bar and Kate is there reading a novel and drinking wine. Harvey tries to apologize for walking past her and she tells him its quit alright, many people are rude. He asks her if he can buy her lunch, and they end up sitting at separate tables next to each other, at the end of lunch she tells him she has a class to go to, he follows after her and when they meet again on the train he asks if he can walk her to her class. He tells her he will wait for her until her class is over, when she comes out they walk around London and when she asks him about his daughters wedding he says that the reception is still ongoing, Kate tells him he should be there, he offers to take Kate with him, she agrees and Harvey buys her a new dress so she can fit in. At the reception Harvey is dancing with friends when Kate decides to leave, when Harvey notices this he runs out see her waiting for an elevator and runs into a room and starts to play the piano, Kate hearing this goes into the room and sees Harvey, he tells Kate not to leave, she stays and they dance away the night, walking home they talk about meeting the next day, Harvey can now stay because he has been fired from his job. When Harvey gets to the hotel, the elevators are out of service and Harvey has to walk up the stairs, of course Harvey has arrhythmia and ends up going to the hospital while Kate waits for him. Harvey spends the next day trying to reach Kate to tell her, he finally goes back to where she works just to find out she is at her class, he runs away to reach her before she leaves, as she is walking out of the class she sees Harvey and they talk about how she hoped he wouldn't show that day, she believes he is going back to New York, and he could have gone back, Marvin had called him and told him that the company wants Harvey back, he refuses, Kate and Harvey decide that love is worth the risk after all. A subplot with Kate's mother Maggie (Eileen Atkins) and the Polish neighbor could have actually gone some place but doesn't really materializes. I give Last Chance Harvey a 3 and on my avoidance scale a 0. This is a cute movie, take a chance with Harvey today. |
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