Last Chance Harvey (2008)
Directed by Joel Hopkins
In London for his daughter's wedding, a struggling jingle-writer, Harvey Shine, misses his plane to New York, and thus loses his job. While drowning his sorrows in the airport pub, Harvey meets Kate, a British government worker stuck in an endless cycle of work, phone calls from her mother, and blind dates. A connection forms between the unhappy pair, who soon find themselves falling in love.
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What critics compared Last Chance Harvey to
"Last Chance Harvey" has been described as "Before Sunrise" for the older set, and while the comparison is superficial, there is a similarity.
By echoing the motif that made Before Sunrise so popular among a segment of romantic comedy fandom - the concept of having two people fall in love as they tour a city - Last Chance Harvey provides viewers with ample opportunity to see Harvey and Kate interact.
It's only as Harvey encounters Kate that the movie first starts to genuinely engage the viewer, and there's ultimately little doubt that Last Chance Harvey fares best during the tentative couple's early getting-to-know-one-another conversations (which are, admittedly, more than a little reminiscent of Before Sunrise and its sequel).
If Last Chance Harvey sounds kind of like Richard Linklater's great Before Sunrise with older actors, that's because it essentially is.
British writer-director Joel Hopkins blatantly snatches elements of "Before Sunrise,” "An Affair to Remember” and even "Rear Window,” but his Oscar-winning leads imbue the story of two more-than-middle-aged lonely hearts finding romance with tenderness, humor and humanity.
The second feature from Joel Hopkins is not quite "Before Sunrise" for the over-40 crowd, but the comparison works.
Mickey Sumner (2008's " Last Chance Harvey ")?real-life daughter of Sting?is an offbeat but exceedingly perfect match as Sophie, but this is Gerwig's show all the way.
Frances (played by Greta Gerwig of “Greenberg,” another Baumbach film) lives in an apartment with her friend, Sophie Levee (Mickey Summer of “Last Chance Harvey”).