Hope Springs starts out as a cliche romantic comedy where Kay and Arnold (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) are going through a rough patch in their marriage. Naturally...Kay turns to Dr. Feld (Steve Carell)..a self help author who presides in a quaint little town. Arnold then disagrees with Kay on this idea but eventually tags along. There is the premise for what could have easily been the most unoriginal comedy of the past years. Instead...Hope Springs is a delightful drama that boosts excellent performances from its three leads..especially Jones.
I've always thought of Jones as an excellent actor but his performance is so good I can not even describe it in words. No..seriously...he is a force to be reckoned with here. Jones displays the kind of performance that Robert Downey JR displayed in Tropic Thunder. You know what I'm talking about...taking a tired idea for a character and transforming it into something magical. Streep and Carell are also excellent but Jones is the true genius behind this film.
The true key to a great actor is if they can get their audience engaged from the first second of the film to the very last. Jones definitely does this...giving us a fantastic character transformation. I hate to spend so much time on just one of the aspects of the film but if you are going to see this film...see it for Jones.
Hope Springs is somewhat slow and I feel as if you have to be married (or have been married previously) to get some of the stuff the film is trying to convey. It also brings nothing new to the table to say about marriage, sex or anything along those lines. However...you will never see performances like that of Jones, Streep and Carell for quite some time.
(3 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving sexuality)
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