Even during the brain-numbing summer movie season, there are some things you never expect to see at the multiplex. Witnessing Meryl Streep give straight-up oral – or try – to Tommy Lee Jones in a movie theater is one of them. But that's exactly what goes down in Hope Springs, a refreshingly mature romantic dramedy that feels like one big middle finger to those who think movies aimed at older audiences can't stomp with the big dogs during these summer months. (Of course, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has already proven that not to be true; I just like this movie more.)
The Oscar-winning vets are Kay and Arnold, a couple with 31 years of marriage under the belt. The premise of Vanessa Taylor's smart script is that they've drifted apart emotionally, to the point they're now sleeping in separate rooms. When Kay wants to get close with her cranky husband once again, she pays for them to fly to the titular town in Maine, where they go through an intense marriage-counseling program helmed by the perpetually understanding Dr. Bernard Feld (Steve Carell, in perhaps his subtlest performance ever).
It's fun seeing Streep and Jones get down and dirty — both literally and figuratively — as stiff old fogeys who literally have to learn to be intimate with one another once again. Jones' hilariously uncomfortable slow burns and Streep's continually flustered reactions mesh quite well here. The movie reunites Streep with her The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel, and the leads' lived-in chemistry is what keeps Hope Springs from becoming a bland, white-bread affair — in other words, a David Frankel movie. I won't reveal if these two rekindle the spark they thought was out long ago, or if they end up realizing that the thrill is gone. But I will tell you this: I never thought seeing Meryl Streep pull an Alanis Morissette would be one of the highlights of my summer.
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