I wasn't sure that Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep could pull off this movie but....
Hope Springs!
Street, 63 and Jones, 65, play a couple who've been married 30 years and are just going through the motions. Their routine is like Bill Murray's "Ground Hog's Day." Every day's the same.
Meryl wants more. She finagles them to a sex therapist played by Steve Carell. By the way, I love all three of these actors. This movie just seemed a little light weight for Streep and Jones.
Meryl is lonely and wants more intimacy in her marriage. Tommy Lee doesn't know it but he feels the same only it comes out looking bored.
OK, here's the problem as I see it. There's a big difference between intimacy and sex. In other words, you can have lots of sex with no intimacy and you can have intimacy with no sex. But if you get the combination right, everybody wins.
Some of Steve, the sex therapist, advice was OK. Some of it, I thought was terrible. The scene in the movie theater was just sad and embarrassing. I would have encouraged them to have some times of real intimacy without the threat of being arrested.
Real intimacy can lead to couples really, really wanting to have sex.
Tommy had the better idea when he, the tightwad that he was, went to great lengths to set up dinner and a night in a romantic hotel. And I'd like to say to Meryl's character that she shouldn't have taken the fact that it didn't work out personally. Those things happen.
Meryl had that same quirky, embarrassed laugh that she's used in some other movies. Not attractive. If I'd been Steve, I would have said, "Lose the laugh."
"Hope Springs" has its moments. But, over all, I was disappointed.
As a personal aside, get a load of Steve Carell's Eames Chair.
***
Hope Springs!
Street, 63 and Jones, 65, play a couple who've been married 30 years and are just going through the motions. Their routine is like Bill Murray's "Ground Hog's Day." Every day's the same.
Meryl wants more. She finagles them to a sex therapist played by Steve Carell. By the way, I love all three of these actors. This movie just seemed a little light weight for Streep and Jones.
Meryl is lonely and wants more intimacy in her marriage. Tommy Lee doesn't know it but he feels the same only it comes out looking bored.OK, here's the problem as I see it. There's a big difference between intimacy and sex. In other words, you can have lots of sex with no intimacy and you can have intimacy with no sex. But if you get the combination right, everybody wins.
Some of Steve, the sex therapist, advice was OK. Some of it, I thought was terrible. The scene in the movie theater was just sad and embarrassing. I would have encouraged them to have some times of real intimacy without the threat of being arrested.
Real intimacy can lead to couples really, really wanting to have sex.
Tommy had the better idea when he, the tightwad that he was, went to great lengths to set up dinner and a night in a romantic hotel. And I'd like to say to Meryl's character that she shouldn't have taken the fact that it didn't work out personally. Those things happen.
Meryl had that same quirky, embarrassed laugh that she's used in some other movies. Not attractive. If I'd been Steve, I would have said, "Lose the laugh."
"Hope Springs" has its moments. But, over all, I was disappointed.
As a personal aside, get a load of Steve Carell's Eames Chair.
***
