Dustin Hoffman, left, and Emma Thompson play a pair of lonely people who bond in the comedy Last Chance Harvey. (Overture Films/Alliance Atlantis)

Unexpectedly topical in light of the current economic crisis, Last Chance Harvey stars Dustin Hoffman as a late-middle-age man who loses his job. Don’t be put off by that, however — this sweet little movie is a midlife romantic comedy that reminds you there are some things in life more valuable than a steady paycheque.

Last Chance Harvey fits a familiar rom-com formula, and there are plenty of opportunities for it to become broader and more ingratiating. But it succeeds by soft-pedalling the comedy and often defying our expectations.

Hoffman plays divorced New Yorker Harvey Shine, a composer of commercial jingles who has flown to London for the weekend to attend his only daughter’s wedding. In the first 24 hours, he receives some soul-crushing news: His daughter (Canadian actress Liane Balaban) has decided that she wants her stepfather to give her away at the altar. And the agency Harvey works for calls to tell him that the music he wrote for a cleaning-product ad has been rejected, and that they have to let him go.

After missing his flight home, Harvey hangs out at a lounge in Heathrow Airport, consoling himself with shots of Johnny Walker Black Label. Also in the lounge is Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), an off-duty airport employee, sipping Chardonnay and reading a novel. Harvey senses a fellow lonely soul and decides to chat her up. Playing the clueless American, he asks her to explain the British expression “stiff upper lip.” The two hit it off, but Kate is wary. Harvey, however, has nothing to lose. Before long, he’s following her onto the Tube and walking her to her creative writing class on the South Bank.

The 40-ish Kate is unmarried, and life seems to have passed her by. She spends her after-work hours helping out her needy mother (Eileen Atkins) and dreaming of one day becoming a novelist and writing a really good beach read. Somewhere along the line she decided never to get her hopes up. “I’m more comfortable with being disappointed,” she tells Harvey. But Harvey’s a gently persistent fellow who sees in Kate another last chance — one that he doesn’t want to blow this time.

Last Chance Harvey was written and directed by Joel Hopkins, a British filmmaker with a slim portfolio. (That said, his only other feature, Jump Tomorrow, won a 2002 BAFTA Award.) Hopkins has an understated touch and a fine eye for the little awkward moments suffered by people who feel stuck on the outside of life. He also has, in Hoffman and Thompson, two superb actors who bring out the best in each other. The pair first clicked as supporting players in the 2006 comedy Stranger Than Fiction, and in this film their rapport gets a chance to flower beautifully.

Canadian actress Liane Balaban, centre, plays Harvey's daughter Susan in Last Chance Harvey. (Overture Films/Alliance Atlantis)

Hoffman is a great actor who has done a lot of not-so-great movies in recent years (Meet the Fockers comes unfortunately to mind), so it’s a pleasure to see him work the old magic again. His hair is grey now and gravity is tugging at his jaw line, but he still has the impetuous charm that made him a star four decades ago in The Graduate. As Harvey, he first appears harried and touchy — a man quick to notice an indignity or slight. After he’s cut loose from the workforce, however, he drops his guard and you begin to see why his ex-wife once considered him a fun guy.

Then there’s Thompson, an actress who radiates intelligence and depth of feeling in everything she does. Her emotional honesty has been known to elevate even the most cloying schmaltz — remember her turn as the betrayed wife in Love Actually? Here, she’s perfectly attuned to Kate’s good-sport façade and inner vulnerability. There’s a poignant scene where she smiles bravely through a doomed blind date with a younger man like a captain going down with her ship. And, after a steady movie diet of painfully thin young actresses, it’s a joy to see Thompson, gorgeously curvy in her late 40s, flaunting a real woman’s body.

Hopkins’s scenario fits a familiar rom-com formula, and there are plenty of opportunities for it to become broader and more ingratiating. Instead, it succeeds by soft-pedalling its comedy and occasionally defying our expectations — notably in a scene where the no-longer-bitter Harvey gives a gracious wedding-reception speech. There’s even-handedness in the way Hopkins handles the characters. Harvey’s ex (Kathy Baker) is a bit waspish, but she’s not a bitch, and the favoured step-dad (James Brolin) may be everything Harvey is not — tall, rich, Hollywood handsome — but he still comes off as a decent chap. It makes us realize that Harvey’s problem isn’t with the other people in his life, but with himself.

The film has its flaws — the circumstances of Harvey’s job loss are vague and dubious, and there’s a twee subplot concerning Kate’s mum and a mysterious next-door neighbour that we could do without. But Thompson and Hoffman rise above the weak and corny bits. Both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances, and there’s an outside chance they could show up again on the Oscar roster. While their acting isn’t as showy as some of the other likely nominees (Kate Winslet and Mickey Rourke, to name a couple), it’s filled with the tiny aches and joys of real life. They know how to turn the movie camera into a microscope.

Last Chance Harvey opens Jan. 16.

Martin Morrow writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.