Hope Springs, based on the novel by Charles Webb - Seven out of 10

Hope Springs, based on the novel by Charles Webb

Seven out of 10

Yes, Colin Firth, Minnie Driver, Heather Graham and especially Frank Collison are charming and a pleasure to watch.

Alas, this is just about all that we can find worth mentioning in this flawed romantic comedy.

Awful would be too strong a word and inadequate, given the first thing mentioned here…that one cannot help but like those artists involved.

Colin Firth plays Colin Ware, a British artist who travels all the way from England to the U.S., to Hope Springs of all places – because he liked the name, we would learn when he talks with Mandy aka Heather Graham – in order to sooth his pain over a bad breakup.

Vera Edwards aka Minnie Driver is the ex-fiancée that has decided to leave him and, furthermore, to marry another man.

The hero is thus tormented, imagining what might have happened…perhaps she met someone at yoga, when she had to sit back to back with another person for some asana…

Among the few amusing moments that the undersigned has enjoyed are the scenes when Mr. Fisher, owner of the hotel where the protagonist stays, appears with his outstanding presence and mimic.

Oliver Platt and Mary Steenburgen (an outstanding Oscar winner) are also present in the cast, but we can on the one hand think of the pleasure of seeing them, while on the other hand we would regret so much wasted talent on s very shallow script, with bizarre scenes.

The interaction between Colin and Mandy aka Heather Graham is rather awkward and not amusing, even if some might enjoy the moments when the shy artist is caught with his pants down.

He does not know if he should take them off or not, if he is expected to get into bed or stay as he is in a humiliating posture, while the woman has jumped up and down and had some plans and then changed them…

At one moment, they are both in her car, from which Mandy takes a bottle of hard liquor presumably and keeps drinking from it…again and then once more, until it is empty.

What is the value of this passage?

Vera Edwards arrives in the small town and she is scheming to get her man back, for she had just been toying with him and she is not about to be married, she may just be a sadistic individual.

The result however is not satisfying.

Hope Springs appears to offer…No Hope!

The love is not resplendent, the chemistry or something else…perhaps everything else seems to be missing

As for humor?

When Frank Collison is on the screen, we have some moments, but his character only has a few lines and perhaps a total of five minutes on stage…