LAST CHANCE HARVEY (Alliance, 2008) D: Joel Hopkins, w/ Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNNN Rating: NNN
I find Emma Thompson completely captivating. She’s fully present in every scene, poised and apparently unself-conscious, and there’s always a touch of conflicting emotions in her sorrow and happiness.
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Writer/director Joel Hopkins is also a big Thompson fan. He wrote this specifically for her, and it effectively shows off her wit, charm and emotional complexity.
Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are mutual fans. Hoffman plays the title role, a slightly mawkish New York jingle writer in London for the wedding of his estranged daughter. Thompson is Kate, a lonely airport worker who’s given up on love.
They stroll through scenic London, go to the wedding reception and talk – it’s a lovely portrait of tentative middle-aged love.
The powerful connection between the actors makes it work. According to the casual, funny commentary they share with Hopkins, Thompson and Hoffman are playing characters very close to themselves.
EXTRAS Hopkins, Hoffman and Thompson commentary, making-of doc. Widescreen. English, French audio and subtitles.
