Last Chance Harvey

Last Chance Harvey

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2010 A lonely American man (Dustin Hoffman) is rude to a British woman (Emma Thompson) at Heathrow, but when they meet later by chance he apologizes, and they spend most of the movie walking around London, talking and learning about one another. Mooshy middle-aged melodrama? Maybe. But it’s also […]

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Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2010

©2008 OVERTURE FILMS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

©2008 OVERTURE FILMS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A lonely American man (Dustin Hoffman) is rude to a British woman (Emma Thompson) at Heathrow, but when they meet later by chance he apologizes, and they spend most of the movie walking around London, talking and learning about one another. Mooshy middle-aged melodrama? Maybe. But it’s also unforced, warm and believable, at least when the two veteran actors manage to break free of all the rom-com contrivances and subplots and just act at each other. Probably aiming at being a kind of middle-aged Before Sunrise, and it’s a major missed opportunity that it falls short.