Hope Springs for Better Movies Than This

It was nice of the producers of "Hope Springs" to provide Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep with such a walk in the woods vehicle.  They are getting a little older and need a break from strenuous acting, now and then.  Meryl had to do dishes a few times, serve a few meals, make bacon and eggs five times, but Tommy Lee even got to sleep in several scenes.

No effort was required from either of them.  Vanessa Brown's pedestrian script spelled it all out for anyone who had no idea what was going on.  Steve Carrell shows some chops as a dramatic actor in an otherwise, undramatic movie.  His Dr. Feld felt genuine if unsurprising.  Not his fault, right Vanessa?

Perhaps I am being unfair, but every scene of this movie was predictable.  Maybe I should have written it.  No, it is nothing like my middle-aged life, but had I seen it twenty five years ago, I still would have found it predictable and unwatchable.

There is no need to see this movie.  Go, instead, to speak to your middle-aged friends who seem to be drifting apart and ask them about that reality.  It has made its money for the studio.  Everybody got paid.  Even the uninspired Ms. Brown may get another job because it made enough money.  Do not go to a half-price matinee.  Do not see it on DVD, and do not watch it when it is shown on commercial television in, no doubt, a week or two.  The commercials will out shine it.