Last Chance Harvey
New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on the verge of losing his dead-end job as a jingle writer. Warned by his boss (Richard Schiff) that he has just one more chance to deliver, Harvey goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter’s (Liane Balaban) wedding but promises to be back on Monday morning to make an important meeting—or else.
Harvey arrives in London only to learn his daughter has chosen to have her stepfather (James Brolin) walk her down the aisle. Trying to hide his devastation, Harvey leaves the wedding before the reception in hopes of getting to the airport on time, but misses the plane anyway. When he calls his boss to explain, Harvey is fired on the spot.
Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate (Emma Thompson), a sensitive, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics. Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone calls from her smothering mother (Dame Eileen Atkins), is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energized by her intelligence and compassion. The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly transform one another’s lives.
LAST CHANCE HARVEY is written and directed by Joel Hopkins whose celebrated debut film Jump Tomorrow won him the 2002 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and attracted the attention of Emma Thompson for whom the title role was written. The supporting cast includes Dame Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain, Gosford Park), Liane Balaban (Definitely Maybe, Happy Here and Now), James Brolin, (Traffic, Catch Me If You Can), Kathy Baker (The Jane Austen Book Club, Edward Scissorhands) and Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”).
LAST CHANCE HARVEY is released in cinemas nationwide by Momentum Pictures on Friday 5 June 2009
Pictures: Jon Furniss