Genre: Romantic Comedy, marriage
Rating: M 100’ sexual references and mature themes
Cast: Meryl Streep(it's Complicated, The Iron Lady), Tommy Lee Jones(men ibn Black, No country for Old Men), Steve Carrell(The 40 Year old Virgin, Date Night, Crazy, Stupid, Love)
Director: David Frankel (The Devil Waerts Prada, Marley & Me)
Kay and Arnold are a devoted couple, but decades of marriage have left Kay wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her husband. When she hears of a renowned couple's specialist (Steve Carell) in the small town of Great Hope Springs, she attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Just convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough - the real challenge for both of them comes as they shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place.
"Every bit as scrumptious as anticipated . . . an intimate peek into the life of a middle-aged couple who have fallen into a rut of mediocrity and complacency," Louise Keller Urban Cinefile.
"The premise is built on such solid and serious drama - and is so sharply observed - that it can take quite a heavy battering of humour, which it does, thanks to Vanessa Taylor's fine screenplay and David Frankel's adroit direction," Andrew Urban Cinefile
"A surprise that sneaks up and moves you, "Hope Springs" has the courage of its awkwardness, and this is said admiringly in the spirit of the film, which is irony-free and unfashionably earnest." Joe Morgensten Wall Street Journal
"Streep and Jones are pure magic. The fear, the longing, the tenderness of these characters are beautifully illuminated in performances of exquisite understanding." Neil Minow Beliefnet
"As Kay and Arnold lurch toward intimacy, the roles bring out a playful side seldom seen in Streep and practically never in Jones, his signature surliness melting into disarming smiles and tenderness." Steve Persall Tampa Bay Times
"What could have been strained farce or, worse, geezer porn, morphs instead into a film of hilarious and heartfelt pleasures. It helps that director David Frankel has two of the best actors on the planet to raise the game." Peter Travers Rolling Stone