5/5 Last Chance Harvey
  by J.C. Superstar (MT)
This is a GREAT movie! It reaffirms my faith in the 'film' industry - that not everything made into a 'flick' has no-bound sex, and every word in the revised Webster's Dictionary. The acting is superb and the plot does the actors justice. Really a Must for your DVD library!

This is truly a "Don't Miss"!

5/5 A Happy Melancholy Love Story
  by Joseph J. Slevin (Carlsbad, CA United States)
I was completely impressed with 'Last Chance Harvey.' The story just grows on you.

Here you have a man who is on his last legs of his long successful career going to a strange land to attend his estranged daughter's wedding. He is met with so many obstacles and difficulties where you think he is ready to give up. Yet, he keeps going, moving ever forward, believing there is something out there.

You also see a wonderful person who is highly involved with her mom who is divorced. She really never seems to get on with people and has a few hang ups in life where she toils in what is a lonely world for her.

Amazingly, this story is only a weekend long, but you feel a sense of the characters full lives. One snippet here and one there gives you full view. This is an amazingly crafted story as well.

You see Harvey Shine (Hoffman) consistently pursue his new interest, Kate Walker (Thompson) after all of his world has seemingly collapse. It gives you the feeling that maybe that is how he did his work all these years. Yet, his work and his life are the cause of some of the way things turned out. You learn about his whole family life in one conversation with his ex played by Kathy Baker, who is married to Jame Brolin, playing the effusive and very much liked step dad.

Yet we are not left without some picture of hope for the lonely. Life continues there is another day to come and in the end instead of a euphoric ending we get to see that just beginning.

The extra in this video of the reasons behind the film are just excellent. In fact anyone seeing this immediately after the movie, may look and even be more impressed. One of the trailers in the DVD is the 'Visitor.' Frankly, the feeling you get from 'Last Chance Harvey' is pretty much the same.

Movies like these give us hope in the human spirit. Afterall, we are all human and struggle with our humanity. A little hope now and then helps.

4/5 Honest and Touching, But No WOW Moments
  by www.luxuryreading.com (Cleveland, OH)
Last Chance Harvey opens with Harvey Shine (Hoffman), an over-the-hill jingle writer who's about to lose his job. He's flying to London to his daughter Susan's wedding, but promises to return on time for a key meeting with a client. In London, Harvey quickly finds himself alone in a hotel while the rest of the family and guests, his estranged wife and her new husband included, rent a house in the city. He is awkward in his interactions with others, even Susan, making blunders at every turn and creating even more awkward silences. Harvey eventually works up the courage to tell Susan he will not be attending her reception in favor of flying back for the meeting, and Susan reveals that she asked her step-father to give her away at the wedding instead.

Londoner Kate (played by Emma Thompson)is an airport employee, surveying people as they de-plane. She is quite close to being called an "old maid", and her friends set her up on uncomfortable blind dates with guys who have little interest in her. Kate's and Harvey's paths intersect in an airport bar. Harvey misses his flight and finds out that he's been fired after all; he drowns his sorrows in shots next to Kate's who's reading with a glass of wine.

Harvey chats her up and they wind up spending the day together; Kate eventually convinces Harvey to attend Susan's reception, which she attends with him. Not surprisingly, Kate becomes Harvey's "last chance" at love and companionship, and their quirks somehow mesh together. Alone they are awkward and uncomfortable, but together they blossom.

I watched the trailer for Last Chance Harvey prior to seeing the movie, and the trailer summed it all up - there were no surprises in the movie itself. Last Chance Harvey presents a nice and heartfelt story, great acting and a lot of charm. I think the movie's crowning glory was Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Harvey Shine, and the awkwardness he exuded on screen (unless of course he is that awkward in real life, which I wouldn't know). At times, I almost squirmed at Harvey's actions - refusing to shake hands, fumbling over toasts, walking into things, etc.

Last Chance Harvey was a good movie with a nice storyline, but there was nothing too memorable or worth discussing with others; it was just a way to pass the time.

4/5 Cute memorable film
  by T. Stewart (Santa Cruz)
The film tries to be unique and fresh (and succeeds by all important accounts) to be a love story rarely told in Hollywood anymore - between two elderly adults who just aren't ready to give up yet. What makes the film fresh is that the still act like how you would have imagined them acting in their 20s and 30s - willing to put themselves out there for love.

But where the film starts to fall apart is with the supporting characters - all of which seem like a waste of time. They have cute one-liners and sometimes achieve likability - but they take away from the story at hand - and it feels like they are stealing screentime from what we really want to watch.

I must say that both Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson provide AMAZING performances!



5/5 I enjoyed it more than most...
  by R. Gawlitta (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA)
Writer-director Joel Hopkins had a script that was looking for fruition. As the DVD extras explain, once Dustin signed on, the character was written around him and one of his favorite co-workers, Emma, signed on, too. Love among "senior types" can really have more possibilities than the young love idiot stories. I was reminded of "Separate Tables" (1958) but with laffs and renewal and lots of unexpected charm. Golden Globe nominees for comedy, Hoffman and Emma didn't really play anything for a laff. The natural idiocy of the human condition were well understood by the players. I thought the characters' intentions were complete, and I was entertained. That's why I watch movies. I enjoyed Mr. Hopkins' effort.