2012. Dir: David Frankel. Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart and Elisabeth Shue. ●●●○○
Hope Springs is a film about middle aged couples sleeping. Admittedly there's a lot of chat about sex, a few love-making scenes played largely for laughs, and ostensibly the plot hangs on an intensive couples counselling course for frustrated housewife Meryl Streep and her stand-offish hubby Tommy Lee Jones. Yet the most significant change appears to relate to their night-time arrangements with Jones starting the film in the spare bedroom and moving back to the master suite by the closing credits (it's not a spoiler, were you honestly expecting divorce papers?) and the action is punctuated by Jones dropping off either in front of the TV or on the sofa-bed. This is a helpful hint to the viewer. It's OK to fall asleep during this movie. Go on, close your eyes, you won't miss anything...
Note, I am not saying David Frankel's film is boring (even if at 100 minutes it slightly outstays it's welcome) just that the movie is so relaxed, so gentle it doesn't seem to care if you nod off. Indeed it's almost designed that way.
Something is clearly wrong in Kay and Arnold's 31 year marriage. Meryl, as Kay, is ruffling her hair and adjusting her nightgown to entice Jones to an evening of sexual indulgence. Alas he's not in the mood - he even has a headache if you can believe it - so Meryl must return frustrated and flustered to her boudoir. The morning after, with it's lack of eye-contact and air of officious routine highlights the steady decline in their relationship, and seems to be the norm, unrelated to the previous night's snub. Spontaneity, romance, even those tiny signals of affection have all deserted Tommy Lee Jones in his twilight years.
Realising it's up to her to break the monotony, Meryl books the couple couple into an intensive course of relationship counselling (focusing on sex) under the watchful gaze of subdued Steve Carell. Over the course of therapy our wedded pair must remind each other of why they originally fell in love, away from the hustle and bustle of their schedules in the Maine town of Great Hope Springs. In order to reignite that spark Jones will have to face up to his bullying attitude and inability to address his own insecurities and fear of intimacy, whilst Streep will allow her confidence to blossom, opening up avenues in her sexuality.
Except that's not quite what happens. Like most therapy related movies the denouement is rushed to make the point - the problems in this marriage couldn't be fixed in five days, surely? So when they do have sex again it's not the fumble on the cinema back row, the champagne and strawberries or even the introspection and analysis that appear to be the catalyst. Instead it's Jones' fear of loneliness and the overbearing Annie Lennox singing "Why" on the soundtrack which is then dressed up as the answer to all their problems. Of course Jones still can't admit to his hangups and Streep has developed a shrewish streak, but in the world of Hope Springs they're finally shagging giving us the happy ending we want.
Streep and Jones make an interesting coupling. They're at their best when the two of them are alone, relying on their physicality more than the dialogue, able to reveal intense and significant shared histories through a glance, the smallest of gestures or the briefest of touches. Unfortunately when they have to connect with other cast members, especially during the counselling, Jones plays the "I don't want to be there" card so convincingly I thought he meant the film and Streep is working the facial tic for two - there's one scene where I swear she was about to launch into her Shakespeare monologue she was emoting so much. Thankfully Carell has the balance right, projecting genuine concern with just the right touch of forcefulness when required.
Frankel doesn't make his presence behind the camera known but there are some nice touches vis a vis the staging, with a story being told purely in the positions the lead couple take up at the counselling sessions. It's a shames the mood is occasionally jarred by the over-insistent soundtrack, painfully on-the-nose it appears to have been selected with i-pod shuffle on a fifty something's easy listening playlist.
Overall, in spite of all my misgivings, I did enjoy this movie. There are times in every relationship where you aren't getting the sex (either frequency or variation) you want so the central conceit resonates. However the film is neither a knock out sex farce nor the tragedy of a disillusioned marriage that it could be and going either way on that may have improved the overall experience. I would wait until it's showing on TV, and sit in front of it digesting a hearty meal. You might take 40 winks in the middle but the film doesn't seem to mind and the effect of being woken up by Streep talking about oral sex can't be underestimated.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Hope Springs
Thursday, 13 January 2011
20 for 2011: 16 - The Big Year
Number 16 on our countdown is twitching comedy The Big Year.
We all know that I don't really "do" comedy. Generally I try to avoid that sort of thing as what makes us laugh as individuals is so distinct that few people can agree on any fram of reference. Nevertheless I am curious about this bird-watching caper, hoping it may tend towards farce in a easy to enjoy way.
Among the twitchers are Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin, and although we're a long way past his heyday I believe a return to form must be on it's way eventually. Plus the supporting cast is excellent including Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest and Rosamund Pike. It's a light choice in the countdown but I'm sure it'll fit in fine.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Film News (08/05/2010)
I can't say that I spent much of this week looking at the news, what with the election on my mind I have been somewhat preoccupied. These four stories did jump out at me though.
Peace, Love and Misunderstanding
When Jane Fonda came out of retirement in 2005 we all drew collective breaths in awe of her talent, and looked forward to the fantastic projects she would have needed to bring her out. Unfortunately she made the funny enough Monster-in-Law followed by the very pedestrian Georgia Rule. Hopefully her next film will be an improvement, even if it is a Georgia in reverse as workaholic conservative Catherine Keener goes back to her mother tree-hugging Fonda to recover from a messy divorce. Admittedly this synopsis sound like utter garbage - it goes on to say they find love in extraordinary places - but that sort of combined talent can't be ignored.
Read on for twitching, ghost stories and an extraordinary horse.
The Big Year
When this birdwatching comedy first came to my attention (through production news in March) I clearly stated that it may have one of the least interesting casts of all time with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as competitive twichers. However since then there have been some developments with a supporting cast now in place including Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Rosamund Pike and Tim Blake Nelson. All of which is beginning to turn me. Still one to look out for. Like the guys on the left are doing.
The Skin I live in
Pedro Almodovar has annouced his next project, and it reunited him with his Tie Me Up, Tie me Down star Antonio Banderas. Strangely though, it's said to be a kind of horror movie, with Banderas playing a plastic surgeon who enacts a terrible revenge on his daughter's rapists - a more continental version of the Last House on the Left, if you will. Can't wait to see what Almovar does with a torture scene!
War Horse
You are fully entitled to take this story with a big pinch of salt, but apparently Steven Spielberg has decided his next film to direct will be the big screen adaptation of War Horse. (Not Interstellar or Pirates Latitude or Indiana Jones 5 or 39 Clues or Harvey or Matt Helm or the biopics of Abraham Lincoln or George Gershwin or Martin Luther King.) Adapted from the original children's story by Michael Morpurgo and not the hit play version which has a puppet horse (see below) the tale revolves around a pit pony that's sent to the front during the First World War. Expect Spielberg to try to make you cry.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Marley & Me
2008. Dir: David Frankel. Starring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Alan Arkin and Kathleen Turner. ●●○○○
I will admit I had high levels of anticipation for this scruffy dog tale adapted from the scribblings of Journo John Grogan and pieced together by David Frankel. I was looking forward to it because a) I go all gooey when I see Labradors and b) Frankel has coped well with this sort of background before and whilst The Devil Wears Prada is set against the backdrop of high fashion it is still adapted from real experiences.
However I sat there watching the film and thinking “Why have they made this? Who is it for? What is the film trying to say?” I only ask these because it simply does not appear to be about a Labrador.
Instead it’s a life affirming piece about the Grogan (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) family as they learn to appreciate each other, have children and move from Miami to a massive house in Philadelphia. Its main concept seems to be the promotion of the family unit, that the family requires sacrifice and deep understanding of each other, that love is hard work but it’s worth it.
That’s all very noble, and I’ve seen some very good films that focus on that but this isn’t one of them. For instance the screenplay forces in comparisons between Grogan’s life and that of his high school friend Sebastian (Eric Dane) who has greater journalistic ambition, but seems to lose out on family. I say the screenplay forces this is because we are never given the chance to appreciate Sebastian’s life except through the eyes of Grogan, and therefore we don’t know if there is any satisfaction in his alternative lifestyle.
In short the film doesn’t do enough to make us like the human characters; the miscarriage scene is glib, we never get an idea of what Aniston has given up to be a stay at home Mum, or what Wilson leaves behind to focus on being a columnist. In the midst of all this is Marley, who is not so much a catalyst for the changes but a holy fool, pulling over tables in one scene then protectively watching over the family in the next.
The biggest crime of all is that I left the film, with reddened eyes from the last scenes (but no spoilers here), but with no real appreciation of what life is like when you have a dog. I have two beautiful mongrels, but if I did not then this film would not have let me know how loving and generous a dog is, or how much impact they have on your life.
No member of the cast or crew stands out to me as having been bad, although likewise few are good. Alan Arkin makes an impression in the underwritten part of Grogan Miami editor, and Kathleen Turner is virtually unrecognisable as a dog trainer.
In the final analysis I can only advise, ignore this doggie doo, and go take a real puppy for a walk in the park – you’ll learn so much more and have a greater emotional connection.
