I didn’t think much of the film when “Last Chance Harvey” was originally being promoted for its cinematic debut a few months ago. Actually, what I mean is I wasn’t given enough time to think about it as the Dustin Hoffman/Emma Thompson starrer was gone before I could walk up to the box office at my local cineplex and say “Give me two tickets to Last Chance Harvey”!! Then – again before I could think about it – the film was released on DVD and if it weren’t for Mother’s Day, I probably would have missed it once more. See, how it went is that Mom expressed an interest, I am always a sucker for love stories and the rest, as they say, is history.

I am sooo glad I got to watch this film! Finally, a mature clever love story which does not show the female lead as a complete neurotic wreck and the male lead as the hero – sans the white horse – come to save her from her pathetic life! What a relief, that there are still writers – like the film’s writer/director Joel Hopkins – filmmakers out there in Hollywood writing scripts like this, directing them and hiring amazing actors like Ms. Thompson and Mr. Hoffman. Of course, the film would not be the tender poetry I found it to be without the masterful work of its two beloved stars. Stars that never act like stars but simply shine without attitude and without trying to outdo each other. Stars simply working together for the success of the story.

Tissues were definitely deployed during the viewing of the film. I’m a sucker for a good love story and if the woman is a tough cookie, smart, interesting and not the luckiest in love, well, the tears flow even more freely. I kept thinking of my dear friend’s words, while we were riding together in a rickshaw in Bombay a few months ago: “Nina, you must find yourself a man who is at least 10 years older than you.” OK, so double that for the age difference between Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Thompson, but still… More tears, more tissues, unsure now if it was from missing my faraway friend or simply from wishing such intelligent love into my life…

Anyway, I won’t bore you with the details of the plot and you know I am not your girl if you wish for spoilers and those pesky accompanying spoiler alerts. I’ll leave watching the film and deciding how you feel about the story to you. But I highly recommend it for a good evening of intelligent conversation, the kind perhaps you might be wishing into your life these days as well.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Films 2 See.