It’s a romantic drama about two lonely people who casually meet and feel a connection spending three days together telling each other about their loneliness and failures. Dustin Hoffman plays an American jingle maker who has lost his job and is in London to attend his daughter’s wedding as not very welcome guest, while Emma Thompson plays an English airport worker who has a disenchanted vision of love and spends her free time immersing herself in reading.
Harvey sees Kate who is having a solitary lunch at the airport cafeteria and starts speaking to her while she is reading her book.
She initially nicely resists his attentions, but soon they’re both glad to have found someone to chat with.
The two engage in a romance also unlikely and the movie is unpretentious but the presence of two great actors makes the film still enjoyable.
I’m not a big fan of love movies but when Emma plays a leading role, I can watch any kind of film.
The faces of Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are so cute and real, they look like two playful teenagers walking around London, under the trees, talking about one another, but in my opinion they don’t seem believable as a love couple, they don’t have the chemistry that Emma has always had with Anthony Hopkins, for instance; maybe it’s because of a not very intriguing and engaging script. This is a plot line that could be dull and boring if played out wrong.
Anyway both were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for this movie.
Gaia Wise, who is Emma’s daughter, plays the little girl at the wedding banquet who speaks to Kate and Harvey saying “you do know this is the children’s table?”.
I love Emma Thompson 