Movie Review--Hope Springs

Let’s get several things clear right off the top—this movie is about intimacy and marital problems including graphic talk during therapy sessions.  Thank goodness there isn’t any nudity but there are some intimate scenes with clothes on both suggested and explicit. 

This movie is not a romantic comedy nor would I call it a drama.  In the afternoon when I went, the audience included one younger couple and three over 65 couples plus me.  Much of the movie was just a sad depiction of an unhappy couple who had been married 31 years and no longer had any kind of a close relationship.

Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) have grown used to their superficial marriage.  Their two grown children are long gone out of the nest leaving Kay lonely and starved for something more from her marriage. When she tries to interest Arnold in a more intimate relationship, he rebuffs her.  She goes looking in a bookstore for something to help her and discovers a book by  Dr. Bernie Feld (Steve Carell) who is a marriage counselor living in Great Hope Springs, Maine.  She tells Arnold that she cashed in her CD and paid $4000 for a week of therapy sessions in Maine for both of them.  Arnold refuses to go and Kay leaves in a cab for the airport without him.  Right before the plane takes off Arnold shows up and sits next to her on the plane.

The rest of the movie is the progression of the therapy sessions between Dr. Feld, Kay and Arnold.  Kay’s character is familiar to most women who have husbands like Arnold.  She is looking for a loving relationship and he is more interested in golf on TV.  In their therapy, she is open and honest while he is closed and defensive about his manhood. Dr. Feld assigns them “exercises” to help them overcome their problems with some success, but in some cases, they also lead to more problems.

The setting is charming. Great Hope Springs reminds me of a quaint New England village full of interesting things to see and good people to meet. Meryl Streep plays her part perfectly as usual and although Tommy Lee Jones looks about 20 years older than she does, he is able to break out of his usual “tough guy” persona and make himself likeable—not an easy task.  Steve Carell as a sex therapist was serious and believable—not his role in previous films. Elizabeth Shue has a miniscule part as a bartender, Mimi Rogers has a cameo role as Carol, a neighbor and the admitted object of Arnold’s fantasy, and Jean Smart is Kay’s friend where they both work (worked) at a woman’s clothing shop.

This movie is rated PG-13, but I would not take a teenager to it.  It is obviously for a more mature audience.  One thing I found out about the movie—it has the perfect title. Think hope springs ___________ (hint: there is always hope).