[BLOG] Hope Springs

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Directed by David Frankel
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell

Plot: After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their relationship.

IMDB

Get free tickets on the forum for Tuesday 14th August 2012 via ShowFilmFirst

[superhero]

I really enjoyed this thanks to Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones acting masterclass. I don't think it would be half the film it is without those 2. 8/10

[tsoiboy]

Saw this tonight at Odeon Panton Street. Not my favourite venue. Small, cramped, dated and needing a face lift. That's enough about the venue.

I went into this tonight having no real idea of what the film was about apart from the premise about an aging couple trying to rekindle a marriage though a counselor.

This was a very sweet little film with the right mix of comedy and drama. There were a few laugh out loud moments especially the french film cinema scene. Tommy Lee jones was great playing a grumpy old man....no change there in his recent film roles. Meryl Streep was on good form as usual and Steve Carrell was great playing it straight for a change. I was always expecting him to go off at a tangent.

Some cliche moments especially the bookstore scenes when looking for self help or sex therapy books.

Definitely an older audience in the cinema tonight and they were chortling away merrily with the jokes in the film.

Essentially this was a film with just three people and tiny cameos of Elisabeth Shue and Mimi Rogers. Not too long and for a change a film where I liked and wanted a happy ending.

8/10

[mistral]

turned up at Belfast only to be told the film hadnt arrived....great I thought, what a waste of time.Then the girl said oh well seeing that you are here you can go see anything you want, so saw Bourne Legacy. Good customer service Odeon.

[alythonian]

No show for the film at Edinburgh either. They put on Batman instead but I'd seen that, alternative was another film tonight or email SFF for a pair of tickets. I'm wating on SFF. Manager at Odeon was v nice about though.

[superhero]

No wonder everyone's been so quiet...

[Beate]

I like Tommy Lee Jones. I love Steve Carrell. And I bloody adore Meryl Streep. So I should have loved this, right? But for some odd reason it didn't click for me. It was a bit too plodding and while there were some good funny moments, I would have wished for it to be funnier, especially with Steve Carrell around. The during-credits scene was just terribly sugary - I kept waiting for a proper joke to lighten up the schmaltz but it never came! There was also one case of nausea-inducing shaky camera when they are walking in the road.

I am not saying it's all bad. The performances were terrific, it was sweet and gentle and some of the awkward scenes are relatable, it just didn't go deep enough or gel enough for me. You're telling me all their problems were sex-related and that's it? It's crying out to be made into a theatre play even though it's nowhere near as sharp as for example Carnage.

And the employees at Odeon Greenwich need a serious talking to - the usher taking our ticket printout hadn't got a clue which screen it was in ("It's on your ticket, no?" "Erm, no, you really need to tell me.") and the projectionist wasn't any better. The lights went down three times before the film started - 17 and a half minutes late. And as for the audience - next time I see a mother bringing a screaming baby to a screening, expecting us all to be the babysitters, I am going to sock her one. Straight where it hurts.

7/10

[Diane65]

I quite enjoyed this at Manchester Printworks. Not laugh out funny but a pleasant enough film 7/10

[Celini]

Extremely clichéed characters and rather predictable storyline; awful awful awful and manipulative soundtrack.
BUT excellent performances by everybody involved. I wanted to slap this grumpy old jerk of Arnold in the face and give a good shake to his silly housewife of a wife!
(they reminded me of my parents pre-divorce!)

7/10

Edit: We also had parents arriving 10 minutes into the film with a 18 months (?) girl! Seriously, WTF?
But in our case, at the first tears, the usher rushed down the alley and politely ask the dad to get the hell out of the room (he did so while his wife staid and enjoyed the film lol )

[Ms Thrifty]

I agree with parts of all the foregoing comments: the leads were great; it was a little slow but also heart-warming and charming, and funnier than expected - I laughed out loud several times. I did find it hard to accept Meryl Streep as the downtrodden doormat her character was supposed to have become, but I enjoyed the ride. Somehow not quite up there with the best of the year so far, but close, so 7.5/10 from me. A very mixed audience in age terms but fortunately no children, let alone babies.