AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Pluskylang Great Film overall

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Alan Hawke Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are rarely anything but exceptional and here they add something special to what may otherwise have been a fairly forgettable film. At its core Last Chance Harvey is a fine, if familiar concept, a lonely old man slowly losing his family and looking for an ear to vent to and a woman who is perhaps a little too caught up with her mothers life to properly have her own run into each other at a British Airport and a romance blossoms over the next 24 hours. The twists and turns have been seen in countless romance films before and the subplot of Emma Thompson's paranoid mother and her new Barbecuing Polish neighbor falls fairly flat but fortunately these are not the films main attraction.Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson really carry the film to something special. Every scene they share is wonderful and will bring a smile to your face. They have a genuine chemistry that brings out a loving nature that both had kept buried. Hoffman really shines when he delivers a heartfelt speech at his daughters wedding which alone is worth the price of admission. This film seems like it didn't realize how strong the main characters interactions were and peppers in a few subplots and walking to music scenes, had it kept the focus more closely on its leads I can imagine it would have been great but as it stands it is worth a watch.

rooprect 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.

SnoopyStyle Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is a New Yorker in London for his daughter's wedding. He writes advertising music and he's struggling. His ex-wife is long ago remarried, and his daughter is closer to her stepfather. Kate Walker (Emma Thompson) is an aging spinster working at Heathrow forced to endure blind dates. Kate and Harvey strikes up a conversation in an airport bar.The story starts slow and really needs Harry to meet Kate. The 30 minutes at the start badly needs a good trim. The movie works best when the two veterans are together. Harvey does have a great relationship problem with his daughter. Other than that, the story is fairly thin, but it's still wonderful to see great actors work. If only they could write another 30 minutes of good dialog and have these guys weave their magic. Nevertheless, this is still a joy.

Alex Vojacek Two people, completely out of place with their own life find each other on London. That's the premise of the movie.Aside from the cliché moments, this movie starts really slow and depressing. Harvey is set out to play into a very unpleasant meeting with her daughter and his fiancée in party before their marriage.Harvey is devastated by the cold feeling the whole family has with him and this really gets to the viewer, let me say that even when Harvey meets Kate after the very depressing first part, the movie does not have the "up-beat" we should be expecting, somehow, the whole tone for the movie is downright depressing and this is even with the nice music that is played in the background all the time. The whole idea and story is short and simple, the acting is OK but, being a fan of Huffman and Thomson myself, this is not their best performances, not by a long mile.The movie may be classified as a romantic drama but the tone feels like just a drama,it develops slow, emotions are toned down and Harvey's life is miserable, somehow, Kate does not bring the light we're all hoping for and this is the director's fault.Sadly, the balance for the movie is OK, not nice, just OK, not Oscar material, not even very good.A drama trying so hard to be romantic and somehow failing at it. With the two first class actors and a script designed for them, this is unforgivable.6 out of 10