‘Harvey’ a date movie gem, ‘Coraline’ wows in 3D
Published 5:59 pm Tuesday, February 10, 2009
“Last Time Harvey”
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
“Last Chance Harvey” is, in a phrase, a Geezer Pleaser. Old people rejoice! There is a love story about us. And it is as gentle and soothing as smooth jazz on a well-tuned grand piano and just funny enough to make us smile.
Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is divorced. He is a jingle writer for unmemorable TV commercials. He hates his job. His boss (Richard Schiff) thinks he is too old and needs to move on; get out of the way, actually, so new blood can take over. But, right now, Harvey needs to go to London to attend his daughter’s (Liane Balaban) wedding. Poor Harvey gets there but finds out that the wedding party has moved to a house rented by his ex-wife (Kathy Baker) and her stunningly perfect husband, Brian (James Brolin). He is all alone in the hotel. Going to the rehearsal dinner dressed in his brand new suit, Harvey realizes that the giant security tag on the jacket sleeve has not been removed. And, it is a white linen suit too. Every other man is wearing a dark suit. Harvey is Charlie Brown. Watching poor ol’ Harvey made me think of that great George Gobel quote: “Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?”
So Harvey is in London feeling like a pair of brown shoes. He tells his daughter that he is going to leave after the wedding ceremony and not attend the reception due to business demands. This hurts the daughter’s feelings but she has a message for him: she wants her glamorous step-father to give her away. Harvey reaps what he sows.
Even when Harvey leaves the awkwardness behind for the airport, his dark cloud follows. He finds out that he has been fired. And there he is: stranded between his much regretted past and his empty future.
While all of this is going on we follow the trial and tribulations of spinster Kate Walker (Emma Thompson). She works at the airport as a survey taker. In fact, she tried to enlist Harvey when he disembarked but he “dissed” her. Poor Kate: everywhere she goes her mother calls her on the cell phone obsessing about the Polish neighbor. It seems to Mum that he has been carting a dead body around.
And perhaps worse of all, Kate is surrounded by energetic and vital young people. It made me think of George Bernard Shaw’s truism: “Youth is wasted on the young.”
Sad Harvey and sad Kate … meet in the airport bar. Who would know that Cupid would still bother with these two? But he does.
Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are great in this gem of a film. It is a date movie for those of us who know the cruel and devastating effects of gravity on the human body and have been turned, emotionally, a little black and blue. For Kate and Harvey, time was running out; they thought that they were just marking time. They were so used to disappointment that they not only expected it, they accepted it as their destiny.
They were wrong. They both were given … one last chance.
If you were born in the 1950s or before, you will especially appreciate this bittersweet tale.
Last Chance Harvey earns three bow ties out of five.
“Coraline”
Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor.
“Coraline” is a children’s movie based on a children’s book. It has that “Nightmare Before Christmas” feel to it but it is in 3D. It tells the story of a little girl who discovers a parallel world behind a tiny door in her apartment. Her “real” world is quite normal: her parents have rules and her home is rather dull. In her “other” world her parents let her do anything and her house is more colorful and fun; filled with exciting adventures. But things are not as they seem. Soon, Coraline realizes “real” is better than fantasy because, “If it seems too good to be true…”
The 3D effects are fantastic in Coraline. So, all you old folks: after you go on your Valentine’s date to see “Last Chance Harvey,” grab a grandchild and see Coraline. I heard at least four gasps from the munchkin crowd who saw the movie with me…and that is a better determiner of excellence than my score of three bow ties out of five.