Directed by Joel Hopkins. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Liane Balaban. Opens Fri, Jan 16.
**
There is no doubt that writer/director Joel Hopkins wants hance Harvey to be an uplifting, feel-good movie that will make even the most jaded people believe in love and happiness. Unfortunately, his characters are so boring that the film actually winds up being depressing.
Hopkins’ story centres around the budding relationship of two lonely fiftysomethings, Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) and Kate Walker (Emma Thompson). Harvey is a jingle writer who is in London for his daughter’s wedding; meanwhile, all we really know about Kate is that she is single and has a mother (Eileen Atkins) who won’t stop calling her. The two have a — wait for it — chance meeting at Heathrow Airport after Harvey misses his flight back to New York and is subsequently fired over the phone. Their mutual misery causes them to strike up a conversation over lunch that ends up lasting throughout a train ride and a stroll through the London streets.
You could almost say hance Harvey is Before Sunrise for the midlife-crisis crowd — that is, if most of Harvey and Kate’s conversation weren’t drowned out by the music of a montage sequence.
A movie like this, where not much happens besides people talking, relies on viewers being invested in its characters to make it work, but it never feels as though anyone’s dialogue is meaningful. Neither is it ever explained why Harvey is divorced or why his daughter Susan (Liane Balaban) feels so distant from him. Kate, for her part, just constantly looks frazzled. The film’s most amusing character, Kate’s paranoid mother Maggie, is mostly shown holding a phone and looking dismayed.
Dustin Hoffman appears to be the latest victim of Al Pacino syndrome, where every role he plays in his late career seems an awful lot like Dustin Hoffman, full of half-smirks and barely audible mumbles. On the other hand, Thompson is so likeable to such a degree that it’s hard to understand why Kate is single — until she says something that’s supposed to be engaging but is entirely forgettable.
As the film approaches its final conflict and Harvey and Kate’s unhappiness shifts towards happiness, it’s obvious we’re supposed to be moved by their story. However, what inspiration is there in watching two dull souls come together? None, I’m afraid. Indeed, seeing Hopkins’ characters (if they can be called that) find contentment only makes any normal, interesting person wonder why they can’t do the same.
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