Hope Springs: Where’s the fun?
Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are Kay and Arnold, a couple trying to reignite the spark in their 31-year marriage.
Hope Springs (M)
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell.
Director: David Frankel
***
Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are Kay and Arnold, a couple trying to reignite the spark in their 31-year marriage.
They have fallen into a routine; Kay cooks Arnold bacon and eggs every morning, he leaves for work, comes home and falls asleep watching golf. They barely communicate, sleep in different bedrooms and haven’t had sex in five years. Arnold seems comfortable in the routine but Kay is desperate to restore intimacy in her marriage and so drags a grumpy Arnold to Hope Springs for a week of intensive couples counselling with Dr Bernard Feld (played by a restrained Steve Carell).
The previews for the film make it seem like it will be a raucous comedy but the majority of the funny bits are in the previews. It’s heartwarming and sweet but a much sadder portrayal of a struggling marriage than I expected.
The subject matter also leads to some uncomfortable moments such as when Kay studies the book “Sex tips for straight women from a gay man,” and tries to put it to use in a movie theatre.
The sex lives of the elderly is not many people’s favourite topic.
I’m not in the film’s target audience but its topic must be timely as the baby boomer generation ages. The problems Kay and Arnold struggle with are all too realistic, which may be the downfall of the film. People heading to the film for light entertainment, along the line of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” another comedy with older stars, may find that it hits too close to the heart.
