She Deviant || Hope Springs: Bluray Review
I spent my weekend relaxing at home with my mother-in-law and began raiding our Blu-ray collection for a possible “mother-in-law approved” flick. Thanks to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for providing a copy of Hope Springs to review, I approached the movie with high hopes, and I feel it did not disappoint.
Starring Meryl Streep as Kay and Tommy Lee Jones as Arnold, the movie starts off by giving you an awkward vibe. Kay and Arnold are a middle-aged couple who have been married for over 30 years. Their main problem: they sleep in two separate rooms and haven’t had sex in over 5 years, so they have grown distant physically. Kay begins to feel that their marriage is not satisfying, considering she endures the same routine every day. Arnold on the other hand, doesn’t sense anything wrong. He is in a complete comfort state and would prefer to leave things as is. Upon a bookstore outing, Kay comes across a book relating to marriage counseling, which is written by Dr. Feld, played by Steve Carell. Kay decides to visit the intensive week long couple counseling session and gives her husband the ultimatum to join as well. Seeing no way out, Arnold reluctantly joins Kay on the intensive grueling. Dr. Feld helps the couple find what they loved about one another once again and not be afraid to be close to one another. Following the doctor’s advice, Kay and Arnold approach each exercise cautiously and realize that bringing the passion back into their marriage will not be easily attained. This film was directed by David Frankel and written by Vanessa Taylor.
The mood was set from the get go. Kay approaches her husband in his separate bedroom for a hopeful nightly rendezvous, only to be rejected with complaints of how tired he feels. Really?? Throughout the movie, you begin to feel sorry for Kay for having such cold husband like Arnold. He isn’t mean per se, but just very oblivious to his wife’s attempt at affection. When Kay threatens gives Arnold no other choice but to join her on the trek to happy couplesville, he is on the defense about the whole idea of a need for couple counseling. The movie had its awkward moments, but I guess I would say that since seeing an older couple make out or attempt certain sexual acts at a movie theatre (yep), was just weird for me to see. Not to mention, again, I was watching this with my mother in law. Not that there is anything wrong with the older folks keeping the passion alive…lol, I just am not used to seeing it in a movie, that’s all. The movie had me even looking at my own relationship. Being younger and all (so I think lol) I can’t imagine being in a situation like that and not communicating with my husband. The key to a great marriage is communication and not being afraid to express yourself to one another. Of course many other factors come into play in a marriage, but to keep in line with the theme of this movie, communication is very important.
Meryl Streep played a great character that had you felt her frustrations as well as her love for her husband. Tommy Lee Jones was a convincing oblivious husband. He almost played this too well, lets hope this isn’t any reflection of his true self lol. When I saw Steve Carell on this movie, I automatically expected to laugh away. But, don’t let his name full you. He actually managed a somewhat serious, but entertaining portrayal of a doctor who seems to truly care to help repair these damaged folks.
The movie was a great pick for our weekend. My mother in law truly enjoyed the movie and I felt it got the point across. Enjoy!
Hope Springs comes to you December 4th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
You can Pre-Order this title here:
