Not much happens in ‘Last Chance Harvey’

Director: Joel Hopkins

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, James Brolin

Cert: 12

A gentle romance between two of life’s losers, carried out at a leisurely pace and without much exploding fireworks or trains screaming into tunnels, nor even the odd wave gently lapping on a shingle shore.

In short, a romantic film that hardly manages to be, er, romantic … just an odd couple meandering around London and chatting.

That the couple are Hoffman and Thompson probably helps lift the film above the mundane and the London tourism people will be delighted that the city looks so good.

Hoffman plays a musician in London for his daughter’s wedding, only he’s merely a figure on the margins of her life what with his wife remarried and step-dad (Brolin) giving her away.

Thompson is your cliché spinster with mother problems who meets the depressed Hoffman at Heathrow as he’s about to depart … cue the sort-of romance and the long walk.

It’s not without its gentle charm but the central characters hardly set the hearts fluttering.

Star Rating: 2/5