I’ve been a huge fan of Dustin Hoffman ever since I saw’Kramer vs Kramer’ and’Tootsie’. And with this 2009 movie, Hoffman proves that he is still a pleasure to watch.
Hoffman plays a somewhat awkward musician, who would rather be performing for the crowds, but actually composes music for advertisements. His career is going off-track, since he hasn’t been able to impress the clients of the advertising firm.
His personal life isn’t doing that great either. He’s divorced and is rather estranged from his daughter, who is currently in London, and soon going to get married. His daughter’s big day falls on the same day as an important business meeting, so he tries to juggle both. In London he meets Emma Thompson, who works at the airport and has her own set of issues she strugles with.
The story I have outlined might not seem too much fun, but its one of those nice movies where you know a happy ending is in the offing. There are many sweet bits to the movie and it comes across as very realistic. There’s no artificial gloss - each character has his own set of faults & nuances. You can feel Hoffman’s shame, his anger at almost being outcast from his daughter’s wedding, his helplessness towards his job failures - he paints them in vivid colors. Hoffman once again displays his genius.
Watch this one for Hoffman.