Hope Springs
2012 Directed by David Frankel
Synopsis
After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their relationship.
Cast
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Well that was unexpected. I sat down, knives sharpened to write a scathing review about another awful romantic-comedy aimed at the mature audience, only to discover I sort of...kind of liked it. Signs weren’t good: Director, David Frankel, seemed incapable of making a decent movie whilst Meryl Streep is unbearable in modern comedies. Yet whilst this film is still too broad and too safe to be considered great it is elevated above the workmanlike direction and safe scripting by sensitive and compelling performances.
Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep star as a couple whose 31 year marriage has drifted into an intimate-free house share which, whilst not quite loveless, is in need of serious help. Enrolling in an intense, week-long…
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I want a real marriage again.
-KayA film about a normal couple that have been married for over 30 years and have grown apart for no other reason then being too familiar with each other. While it lacks the drama of some sort of family crisis that would have put a wedge between them years ago, the film feels a lot more genuine for not having that.
The film does feel predictable at times but it's always enjoyable to watch because of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. They really come off as real people not only struggling to make their marriage better, but struggling with confronting the issues necessary to do so.
Steve Carell plays this one straight…
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Cliched and predictable but very heartwarming. Meryl Streep is wonderful and nobody does a better 'kranky' than Tommy Lee Jones.
A nice antidote to the current summer blockbusters. -
If there was an award for the most sexist, gender-stereotypical movie of the year, this one would probably get it. Although set in the present day, it's like watching a middle class marriage from the fifties. She wants LOVE, he wants SEX, she MAKES DINNER, he WATCHES GOLF. I sit through the whole movie wishing Streep's character will finally leave her husband, but she stays in her miserable marriage and everything's just awful.
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About halfway through I realized that, not only am I completely not the audience for this film, but the members of the demographic Hope Springs WAS made for would probably hate the idea of some young punk jumped up on RC and pot cigarettes watching it. But: I thought it was really good and I had a weird involuntary crying reaction to many of the therapy sequences. It reminded me of my grandparents and they're dead, so.
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You have to break the nose in order to fix it.
Hope Springs is a warm, well performed bundle that is surprisingly unpredictable. Perfectly paced and filled with the highs and lows of a real middle-aged marriage, featuring Steve Carell in a role different to his stereotypical parts.
It might not be particularly fresh or original, but the script and performances are good enough to keep you entertained until the end.
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Eigentlich ein guter Film, allerdings war das Ende zu plötzlich
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A bit generic. The characters are a little two-dimensional, making it difficult to emotionally invest in their journey. It was interesting to see Meryl Streep playing a more dowdy, insecure housewife, but it wasn't enough to love the character. It was disappointing to see Steve Carell play such a simple/simplified character.
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Not exactly my cup of tea this genre movies but the acting of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones is just great.
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Nice film but so weird seeing Meryl Streep...do the...things she does.
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Tommy Lee Jones is the best miserable bastard in Hollywood, we get this used throughout to great effect as one half of a middle aged couple in need of rescuing their formulaic, soulless marriage. Meryl Streep is her usual affable self as the well-meaning and charming wife desperate to rekindle her romance. Whats nice is the dynamic between the two. As soon as Streep could begin to irritate, we get Lee Jones keeping her in check. As soon as TLJ might get a little too grumpy, we get Streep softening him up and defrosting him a little more with the assistance of Carell's therapist.
Fans of Steve Carell's typical shtick may be left disappointed with his showing here, but his…
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This movie was recommended to us, so we watched it. I enjoyed it, some very funny moments, some not so funny moments. I will say it was okay.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Well that was unexpected. I sat down, knives sharpened to write a scathing review about another awful romantic-comedy aimed at the mature audience, only to discover I sort of...kind of liked it. Signs weren’t good: Director, David Frankel, seemed incapable of making a decent movie whilst Meryl Streep is unbearable in modern comedies. Yet whilst this film is still too broad and too safe to be considered great it is elevated above the workmanlike direction and safe scripting by sensitive and compelling performances.
Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep star as a couple whose 31 year marriage has drifted into an intimate-free house share which, whilst not quite loveless, is in need of serious help. Enrolling in an intense, week-long…
-
Streep and Jones are fine here, but nothing special. The story is pretty bland.
The only real surprise is Carell actually playing a character that is neither going for funny or goofy.