Last Chance Harvey (12A)

CHEESE and pickle sandwiches, a James Blunt CD, Sunday night telly and Adrian Chiles all prove that bland things do have their place in this world of ours.

But if any of the above makes you want to dive headfirst through a plate-glass window, it's probably best to avoid Last Chance Harvey.

This marshmallow-soft dramedy stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson as a pair of middle- aged singletons who meet in an airport bar, vaguely hit it off, overcome some mild odds and have a romantic-ish weekend together.

Last Tango In Paris, it ain't.

Harvey Shine (Hoffman) is an eccentric divorced jingle writer from New York who neglected his family for the sake of his career.

Kate Walker (Thompson) is a 40-something singleton whose life consists of slightly amusing chats with her aging mum (Eileen Atkins) and blind dates with the likes of "Simon, who's in stationery" (Patrick Baladi from The Office).

Fuzzy

Harvey, alone in London for his daughter's wedding, asks Kate to be his guest for the evening. And gentle wackiness ensues.

In different hands this could have been horse tranquiliser-but Emma Thompson lifts it with a great performance and by looking bloody fantastic into the bargain.

Not so Hoffman, who looks like Lionel Blair's dad or a fossilised cockatoo, but he does pull off the old charmer act well enough.

Originality's thin on the ground (there's a trying-on-dresses-to- music montage, a wacky best friend, a will-he-won't-he-show second date, and Hoffman racking up a second mortgage making romantic taxi dashes around London).

But realism isn't the target here -warm and fuzzy feelings are.

And if you're not feeling all wubbly inside after Hoffman's tearjerking father-of-the-bride speech, there's no saving you.

OUT FRIDAY

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