Hope Springs (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) (2012)

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and Steve Carell prove their worth as actors in roles they seldom play, but they all did a stellar job. As usual for these box-office hit professionals. Carell as Dr. Feld who takes a week to turn a stagnant 31-yr-old marriage on it's un-bridled love heals. Kay and Arnold are the couple who have to face marriage sexual reality in front of a shrink. Viewers feel as awkward as the characters are portrayed. Good acting makes this good story achieve greatness.

It's scenic, since the Omaha couple travel to Great Hope Springs, Maine for the intense week of therapy. And it's quite believable. It's emotional, like the struggles and high points of a real marriage after 31 years. In Feld's office, it goes from pathetic to comic. Intense to relief. Moments of endearment and others where the revelations become loud and in-your-face. Sometimes I wished I could hide myself, other moments I squeezed my wife's knee. She watched in the theater seat beside me. She immediately informed me we must buy the DVD when available.

OK, it's not for all. It's targeting older, mature viewers.

Teens will growl "gross" during the clothed sex scenes.

Young marrieds may envision their parents or grandparents.

Ladies 40 & over will find it lusciously romantic.

Older men will/can learn a few tips to sweeten your own sweetie. Works for me, 64 and alive.

Anyone calling this well acted encounter "far fetched" just isn't old enough to have been there...yet.

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)When I saw Meryl Streep play the seemingly facile Omaha housewife she portrays in this 2012 marital dramedy, I had an immediate flashback to an underrated romantic drama she did almost thirty years ago, Ulu Grosbard's Falling in Love (1984), in which she played a young married woman who couldn't help falling for a married architect (Robert De Niro) on a commuter train. I kept thinking of Kay as that earlier character all these years later trying to fan the embers of the passion that erupted so unpredictably back then. Interestingly, her younger character could not consummate the affair either but fell hopelessly in love anyway. Director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) and first-time screenwriter Vanessa Taylor travel to the opposite end of the marital spectrum, a 31-year-old marriage that finds Kay and her accountant husband Arnold sleeping in separate bedrooms having long ago lost any sense of intimacy and passion their marriage once had. The film begins with a seriocomic preface in which Kay awkwardly tries to seduce Arnold, an invitation he rebuffs with the flimsiest of excuses. Knowing their marriage is on auto-pilot, she fears being alone emotionally and ending their lives in emotional isolation now as they go through the motions in their sixties.

An optimist despite the odds, Kay signs them up for a week of intensive couples therapy in Great Hope Springs, Maine, where renowned therapist Dr. Bernie Feld practices. Arnold is predictably resistant but begrudgingly accompanies her when he realizes how serious Kay is about the counseling. The sessions with Dr. Feld initially don't go well with Arnold protesting the doctor's every recommendation for building intimacy in his relationship with Kay. This is when the movie becomes the most surprising because every time a physically awkward moment presents itself, the feelings become heartfelt and sometimes humorous in unexpected ways. While Frankel and Taylor handle the slim story turns with genuine insight, it's the masterful work of Streep and Tommy Lee Jones that elevates the film into an experience that far transcends the Lifetime-TV orientation you would expect otherwise. Unafraid to come across as harshly judgmental, Jones has made a career of playing dyspeptic curmudgeons, so it's nice to see him gradually reveal Arnold's vulnerabilities with skill and delicacy. He has to play Arnold close to the vest but not so insular as to make you wonder what Kay saw in him in the first place. After tackling larger-than-life figures like Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher, Streep is splendid portraying a sheltered woman who contributes as much to the fossilized, inchoate marriage as Arnold does.

At 63, the actress allows herself to look even beyond her age, but she's still beautiful in a shopworn way. I love how she almost swallows every word she speaks as if Kay's tentative nature is holding back grand expectations of a romance she can only fantasize about. The two veteran actors have a natural rapport that gives the viewer a rooting interest in seeing them overcome their age-old emotional and physical barriers. There are moments between them especially in the film's last third that are quite heartbreaking, especially when they come to learn that they aren't the people they believed themselves, or each other, to be. Steve Carell plays Feld straight-up without an iota of irony, and his clinical approach works effectively within this context. The rest of the supporting cast makes very little impact, including Jean Smart as Kay's sassy manager at the Coldwater Creek she works part-time, Elisabeth Shue as an equally sassy barmaid counseling Kay on sex, and Mimi Rogers as the final payoff of a joke about a comely (and yes, sassy) neighbor with a trio of corgis. The young actors who play Kay and Arnold's adult children are barely present, but I'm sure that was part of the intention in order to allow complete focus on the couple. Frankel overdoes the soundtrack music when moments of silence would have been far more effective, but otherwise, the tone feels spot-on.

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Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Victoria B, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic.

I went to see this movie with my mom and she was freaking out and covering my eyes in some parts, I thought it was funny and that she was overreacting. After the movie I had to remind her that I am fourteen. This movie is about a married couple of thirty-one years, Kay (played by Merryl Streep) and Arnold (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who love each other so much, but have not been affectionate or intimate with each other in many years. They even sleep in separate rooms, and on anniversaries they get gifts not for each other, but for the house. Kay gets sad at the reality that she and her husband do not have a real relationship. So she gets a book about marriage and calls the couple's counselor and schedules the intense therapy to fix her marriage. At first Arnold refuses to go, but then reconsiders when Kate leaves without him, then reluctantly he goes with her because he does not want to lose her. All throughout the movie Arnold is uncomfortable with therapy, and especially the intimate tasks assigned by Dr. Fields (played by Steve Carrell). While Kay really wants to have a "real" relationship, Arnold is tentative and they battle with this throughout the whole movie. This movie was very sweet in a weird way because it is based around an older and very in love couple that struggles with intimacy and I guess for a young audience, that visual would gross them out. The soundtrack in this movie reminded me of music in a silent film because music is included in most scenes and they describe the scene, even if the words are not there. Tommy Lee Jones is very versatile as an actor. I have never seen him play a domestic character or anyone in a relationship, it is refreshing and he does a great job. This movie makes me see the power in love and determination to sustain it. My mother was shocked by some scenes but then laughed, so this would be a great movie for couples who are in a long relationship. This is a very intriguing movie, I have not seen many with this concept, so I give it five out of five stars. I recommend this movie for mature 13-year-olds and up. This is a good movie for a mature crowd.

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I took my mom and sister to see this. Purposely put my sister between me and my mom (I had read it was more drama than comedy. And I had heard about the theater scene). Within 5 minutes I was choking up. Don't get me wrong, there are times of absolute hilarity, the audience was roaring with laughter at a lot of scenes. However, it just struck me as a more realistic portrayal of life. Honest. Everyone's hopes, dreams, wishes.....and the inevitable feeling of those dreams drifting away. But then resulting in a journey of acceptance and love. For me it was an emotional kick in the gut. Maybe that's just me. But this film made me a blubbering idiot. If you have parents that are getting up there in age, and you are feeling this creeping up on yourself as well, fair warning. Do not let this film bypass you. Meryl Streep tore at my heart. Amazing, seemingly effortless work by her. Yes, her again. For those who criticize her work as being too, for lack of a better word, "studied" or "educated", you can throw that out the window with this. Just her facial expressions killed me, no words, just an everyday person's feelings flowing across her face. So realistic. Tommy Lee Jones---hilarious, heartbreaking, a performance that was every bit as realistic. He was awesome. Even though I had tears running down my face practically the entire time, I'm getting this DVD. Can't wait to see it again---but in the privacy of my own home---where no one can see me balling my eyes out. I'm a wuss. Rating: A

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My wife of 42 years dragged me to see this movie. I expected to be lectured, and was, about taking your spouse for granted. What I didn't expect was to be taken in by this movie to the point where I ordered a copy. Streep and Jones took a preachy movie and made it entertaining. Not for young children, though. You will have some explaining to do that will make you squirm.

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