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Ishtar
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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
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The Pirates of Penzance
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The Fortune
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-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
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Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
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Alex in Wonderland
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The Legend of Lylah Clare
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In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
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Thumb Trippin'
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Midas Run
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At Long Last Love
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Brewster McCloud
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Outcast of the Islands
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The Moon's Our Home
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Run of the Arrow
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House of Secrets
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Saint Joan
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Macabre
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The Fiend Who Walked the West
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Five Gates to Hell
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1960's
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The Chapman Report
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You're a Big Boy Now
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Dark of the Sun
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Skidoo
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Last Summer
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Tropic of Cancer
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I Never Sang for My Father
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Sometimes a Great Notion
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Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
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The Music Lovers
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Drive, He Said
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The Last Movie
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Made For Each Other
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At Long Last Love
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Hearts of the West
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Welcome to L.A.
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W.C. Fields and Me
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Citizens Band
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Twilight's Last Gleaming
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar
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Movie Movie
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Rich Kids
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Nightwing
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Screams of a Winter's Night
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When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
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The Awakening
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Simon
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God's Angry Man
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Fast-Walking
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Twice Upon a Time
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Trouble in Mind
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When the Wind Blows
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Housekeeping
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The Glass Menagerie
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Patty Hearst
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Drowning by Numbers
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Haunted Summer
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The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
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1990's
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Prospero's Books
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City of Hope
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The Baby of Macon
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King of the Hill
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Dadetown
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SubUrbia
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Upcoming

March 5

Alice in Wonderland

Brooklyn's Finest

The Secret of Kells

March 12

The Exploding Girl

She's Out of My League

Stolen

SuicideGirls Must Die!

Tapes from the Script

March 17

Mid-August Lunch

Hoffman's Rebound

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It is standard Hollywood policy to elbow big-name male actors into secondary character roles once they hit their late 50s. And so Dustin Hoffman, one of the all-time acting legends whose leading-man career went great guns from the late '60s to the early '90s, has been playing colorful oddballs over the last decade or so. The last time he had a lead role with a seriously dimensional beating heart was (am I wrong?) in Stephen Frears' Hero ('92).

But now he's gotten hold of a solid lead role -- a kind of soulful sad sack -- in a modest but touching drama called Last Chance Harvey (Overture, 12.26). And it's good to see Hoffman delivering again on this level. My guess is that others will concur. I'm not permitted at the moment to say anything about the film itself, but I can say this for sure -- it's agreeably restrained and well-mannered, and it doesn't get in the way of Hoffman's performance or that of his luminous costar, Emma Thompson.

As Harvey Shine, a Manhattan jingle writer on shaky professional ground, Hoffman hits a variety of notes that all say middle-aged downish -- subdued, lamenting, glum, anxious, doleful, morose. But he's determined to push all this aside and fly to London and attend his estranged daughter's wedding. He's not welcomed with open arms, having been a less-than-fully-loving and supportive dad, which is cause for more mood indigo.

And then, after he runs into Thompson's Kate and starts to slowly succumb, Harvey (naturally, like anyone in his position) begins to warm up and radiate the good stuff. It's like someone else is suddenly born within (as falling in love enzymes tend to manifest). He becomes likable, restrained, decent, manly, compassionate.

It's a very pleasant arc, and is particularly seductive from a spectator standpoint since it allows -- enables -- one of our greatest actors to deliver a deeply winning performance.

There's a third-act moment in particular when Harvey delivers a toast in front of a roomful of revellers at his daughter's wedding reception. They've been treating him rather horridly and he'd be well within his rights, you think to yourself, to zap them back a little. But he doesn't -- and this is the moment when Hoffman and Harvey really won me over. The man shows class. He holds his ground and shows a touch of the gentle and the forgiving. He rises above.

It's especially moving knowing that Hoffman, as he told me this morning, wrote this speech himself the night before filming. Along with his wife. Which goes to show that sometimes the stuff you write quickly with the pressure on (or the train coming round the bend) can work out very nicely.

I visited Hoffman at his Brentwood office this morning to talk things over. Here's the mp3, which I haven't had time to edit. Yet. I have to bolt out of here and do errands but I'll fill in with some more thoughts sometime later on. I can't focus because of the election returns. I'm getting very anxious right about now.

Three Nickelodeon machines in the office suite of Punch Productions.

Spirit of the Day<< previous | next >>Once Again

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 4, 2008 at 3:30 PM

comment #1

JaySmire says ...

I'm not in the industry so I feel I can comment and ask this question because to an outsider this particular policy doesn't make a whole lot of sense --what is with all of this "I can't talk about the film yet?" In a world where print media is evaporating don't film studios need reporters like you, Jeff, to get the word out and build buzz? I can understand them not wanting you to give away any surprises and stuff like that, but to not talk about the film I think is stupid. Heck--if you're important enough for them to not want you to say anything about their movie, these clowns ought to start inviting you to more previews. It's just lame. I don't blame you, I blame the studios. Their shortsightedness knows no bounds. What are you going to do after the election is over if no one is going to let you talk about their upcoming movies?

Posted by JaySmire at November 4, 2008 4:44 PM

comment #2

alynch says ...

The last time he had a lead role with a seriously dimensional beating heart was (am I wrong?) in Stephen Frears' Hero ('92).

I'd go with "Wag the Dog" personally.

Posted by alynch at November 4, 2008 4:55 PM

comment #3

btwnproductions says ...

He seems much happier since he moved into supporting parts; I've seen him signing autographs and posing for cellphone pictures, which was unthinkable in his TOOTSIE heyday. But OUTBREAK, MAD CITY, SPHERE, and MOONLIGHT MILE were leads; I'd say the last was the most dimensional.

Posted by btwnproductions at November 4, 2008 5:21 PM

comment #4

The InSneider says ...

I thought he was fantastic in Moonlight Mile and that was as much a lead as Jake's part. Great, underrated movie right there too. And one of the top 5 actors still working today along with De Niro, Pacino, Jack and Hanks.

Posted by The InSneider at November 4, 2008 5:44 PM

comment #5

lipranzer says ...

I also liked him in MOONLIGHT MILE, though I wasn't as fond of the movie.

Posted by lipranzer at November 4, 2008 5:57 PM

comment #6

jjgittes says ...

He ruined his own career.

Zero great dramatic performances since 88 and one great comedic one in Wag the Dog.

You can't go 20 years without anything dramatically when you're at the level he was. People like to rag say on Pacino or DeNiro for faltering, but I'd say Pacino has at least 10 great performances in the same period (maybe more).

Hoffman's decline was shocking.

Here's to Dusty's comeback though .......

Posted by jjgittes at November 4, 2008 6:31 PM

comment #7

T. S. Idiot says ...

Wag the Dog is one of the best films of the past 20 years and one of Hoffman's best performances.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at November 4, 2008 7:21 PM

comment #8

btwnproductions says ...

I doubt he's interested in a name-above-the-title "comeback." I think at age 71 he's happy where he is. He seems more secure and comfortable with himself in interviews.

Posted by btwnproductions at November 4, 2008 7:22 PM

comment #9

btwnproductions says ...

I doubt he's interested in a name-above-the-title "comeback." I think at age 71 he's happy where he is. He seems more secure and comfortable with himself in interviews.

Posted by btwnproductions at November 4, 2008 7:22 PM

comment #10

Kristopher Tapley says ...

Weird seeing those pics. I was just in there yesterday for the same interview, a couple of hours of what ended up being some of the coolest B.S.-ing I've had with an industry guy to date (though we met briefly two years ago for a SAG Q&A. I love how disconnected Hoffman is from the fray. Refreshing, really.

Posted by Kristopher Tapley at November 4, 2008 7:35 PM

comment #11

JckNapier2 says ...

Actually, Hoffman's been putting good work out at least every few years. He was great in Wag The Dog, Moonlight Mile, Stranger Than Fiction, and yes, Mr. Magorium's Magical Emporium (a strangely compelling movie that's better than you'd expect - with the usual great work from Jason Bateman). Granted, he sometimes still phones it in (Perfume), but he still has the drive to actually perform.

Posted by JckNapier2 at November 4, 2008 11:05 PM

comment #12