‘Last Chance Harvey’

Movies do love-at-first-sight all the time. But like-at-first-sight? That's a more uncommon commodity.

It's also a most appealing one, at least in "Last Chance Harvey."

For that, we can thank two Oscar-winning dramatic heavyweights: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.

At first sight, they might seem an odd couple indeed.

But anyone who saw 2006's "Stranger Than Fiction" (in which they played supporting roles) noticed the sparks flying between them.

That list includes "Last Chance Harvey's" writer-director, Joel Hopkins, who capitalizes on their familiarities -- and quirks -- with gentle, heartwarming charm.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

That's because movies that focus on two perfectly nice people being perfectly nice often can be perfectly boring.

But the characters Hoffman and Thompson play aren't perfect, just nice. And because they're such consummate performers -- who clearly happen to be having a delightful time -- we wind up having a delightful time, too.

Not that "Last Chance Harvey's" title character expects to find a happy ending for himself. Not with his luck -- or, more accurately, lack of same.

Once upon a time, the 60-something Harvey (played by the 71-year-old Hoffman) wanted to be a jazz pianist. Instead, he wound up writing jingles for TV commercials -- a job he may not have much longer.

A failure as a husband and father, the long-divorced Harvey has been reduced to an extra at the London wedding of his daughter, who's closer to her stepfather than she's ever been to real dad.

Little wonder, then, that Harvey feels like even more of a misfit than usual.

That makes him an ideal match for wannabe writer Kate Walker (Thompson), a stiff-upper-lip loner who's resigned to the constants in her stultifyingly confined life: her job surveying tourists arriving at Heathrow Airport; her aging, always-on-the-phone mother (British stage legend Eileen Atkins); and, inevitably, her nonexistent social life.

Testing the outer limits of serendipity, these two almost meet cute more than once.

It's almost as if writer-director Hopkins wants to tease us, making us wait for their inevitable connection.

By the time they finally do connect, however, we've gotten to know them both -- and know why they're so well suited to each other.

We suffer through Harvey's humiliation as he watches his persnickety ex-wife (chilly Kathy Baker), her new husband (smilingly unctuous James Brolin) and their about-to-be-married daughter (Liane Balaban) relegate him to the sidelines. We cringe for, and with, Kate as she endures a blind date that ends in quiet humiliation. (Not that her date would ever notice her well-contained agony.)

And we hold our collective breath when Harvey and Kate finally strike up a flirtatious friendship, wondering whether they can break out of their well-worn ruts and forge a new path -- together.

None of what happens subsequently is the least bit earth-shattering.

Yet there's something to be said for a movie that sidesteps obvious, in-your-face overkill -- especially one as potentially sappy and cliched as this one.

Every so often, "Last Chance Harvey" seems poised to plunge into a swamp of sentimental sludge.

To its credit, however, the movie stays dry -- and so do our eyes -- as it maintains its rueful, character-driven tone.

And while Hopkins is no lyrical visual stylist, he knows enough to keep the focus where it belongs: on Hoffman and Thompson. (Although the movie does convey the down-to-earth pleasure of long London walks with postcard-worthy appeal.)

But back to "Last Chance Harvey's" human scenery.

Hoffman deploys his hangdog, self-deprecating charm with practiced expertise -- he knows his audience and dares Kate (and, by extension, all of us) to resist. Naturally, resistance is futile -- especially when he breaks out one of those impish grins that light up his face as if the sun were emerging from behind a cloud.

Thompson's a bit more subtle in her scene-stealing. But steal them she does, briskly conveying the world-weary acceptance of a woman who's all too used to disappointment -- and has managed to fool herself into thinking she's happy enough despite it.

She's not, of course, and neither is Harvey. But watching the two of them take that last chance makes "Last Chance Harvey" a sure thing for those of us who appreciate a movie that earns its obligatory happy ending.

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.