SUCK MY DISC

QUICK HIT

HOPE SPRINGS

**1/2 (out of ****)

Hope Springs is one of those movies where you can watch the preview, close your eyes, imagine what happens in the movie, and be 100% right. From the twists of the story to the decisions made by the director, it offers almost nothing in the way of surprises. A married couple gets old, and the wife, played by Meryl Streep, realizes it before her husband, Tommy Lee Jones, does, as if there was a chance he was ever going to realize it. He’s old school, where marriages are less about being open and sharing, and more about living in the same house like roommates. She signs them up for marriage counseling, he resists for an hour and a half, and then there’s a happy ending. But you already knew that. What makes Hope Springs watchable isn’t that it’s funny, but for some of the same reasons that you would watch a comedy. I bet most of you have said to yourself that Comedy X looks stupid, but it has Will Ferrell, who you really like. If it starred Seth Rogen, maybe you would skip it, but Ferrell makes you laugh, even in crap, so it’s worth a shot. This is the same thing, but with a dramedy. Normally, you wouldn’t watch this movie, but Meryl Streep is at the point in her career where she seems to effortlessly shit acting gold wherever she goes, and this is no exception. There’s no accents or great speeches here, but she finds her character and fucks it to death. Tommy Lee Jones, an actor I’ve always liked, but kind of thought he was a little one-note, is just as good. Jones’ character is totally at fault here, and is basically an intolerable asshole for the entire movie. Jones’ typical persona is exactly like the guy I thought my Grandpa was when I was a kid; Jones’ character here is exactly like the guy my Grandpa actually was, but it took me until he was dead before I could realize it. Two people, one boring, one a dick, in a mediocre movie that you can’t help but root for. — RH