I have always passed up an opportunity to pick up the DVD of Hope Springs at almost every discount sale over the past 2 years or so. Somehow it never got me excited although it had Colin Firth and Minnie Driver on the cover along with that hottie called Heather Graham. Don’t know whether it was because of bad writing on the DVD cover either. Having said all of that, I am not terribly disappointed that I did not pick it up. But it wouldn’t mean that I would have been disappointed if I had picked it up. Hope Springs is exactly that kind of a movie which leaves you with a feeling of not being terribly happy or terribly sad about watching it. Its just about average I guess. Lets put it this way – there are better movies that could have been aired on Valentines Day – not to mention that Zee Studio had a black out (or should I say white out) in between to kind of ruin the experience as well.
Now how many movies can you think of where the lead character’s name is the same as her / his off screen name. This was a first for me in the form of an Englishman by the name of Colin Ware (Colin Firth) who is an aspiring artist – the painting / sketching variety. He has recently been dumped by his half Welsh half bitch fiancée, Vera Edwards (Minnie Driver). The unsuspecting Colin receives an invitation in the mail which is for the wedding of Vera with some random guy who Colin has never heard of. Now our hero doesn’t have the better sense to check with his girl friend first but instead he is distraught and takes off across the Atlantic to some remote town with a population of a little over 18000 people. Its called Hope. Yep. There are several towns called Hope – you can look it up on google maps as well. Anyways, he lands up into Hope, jet lagged and checks into the only hotel available there run by Joanie Fisher (Mary Steenburgen) and her husband (Frank Collison). Joanie recommends that Colin meet the local healer of sorts, a girl by the name Mandy (Heather Graham). One thing leads to another and very soon Mandy and Colin become good friends and eventually lovers. So they should live happily ever after right? Wrong. Vera has other plans of her own. Turns out the wedding invitation was a joke that she was playing on Colin (I told you Colin, you should have checked with your girl friend before taking off). A subtle hint for Colin to ask her to marry him – which our daft hero could not get. Now she wants him back. But Colin is in love with Mandy. Sorry Vera you seem to have missed the bus .
Hope Springs comes from the table of unknown director (unknown to me at least) Mark Herman whose 7 full length features to date haven’t ruffled any feathers at the BO I guess. Never heard of any of his movies. And it isn’t too difficult to understand why. There is an element of direction that is required in most movies and Herman falls woefully short at the basics itself. There are inconsistencies galore. And the attempt to make it funny also falls flat more often than not. Colin Firth’s sincerity is a saving grace but he plays what he used to be stereotyped as for a long time – a gilted lover. Minnie Driver is effective and Heather Graham is furniture as always. The support cast other than Oliver Platt do not inspire any confidence as the movie trundles along its 92 minutes (thankfully!!!!). As called out earlier – average movie. You will be quite indifferent at the end of it all. 5 on 10 is my verdict.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4128113433/
Now how many movies can you think of where the lead character’s name is the same as her / his off screen name. This was a first for me in the form of an Englishman by the name of Colin Ware (Colin Firth) who is an aspiring artist – the painting / sketching variety. He has recently been dumped by his half Welsh half bitch fiancée, Vera Edwards (Minnie Driver). The unsuspecting Colin receives an invitation in the mail which is for the wedding of Vera with some random guy who Colin has never heard of. Now our hero doesn’t have the better sense to check with his girl friend first but instead he is distraught and takes off across the Atlantic to some remote town with a population of a little over 18000 people. Its called Hope. Yep. There are several towns called Hope – you can look it up on google maps as well. Anyways, he lands up into Hope, jet lagged and checks into the only hotel available there run by Joanie Fisher (Mary Steenburgen) and her husband (Frank Collison). Joanie recommends that Colin meet the local healer of sorts, a girl by the name Mandy (Heather Graham). One thing leads to another and very soon Mandy and Colin become good friends and eventually lovers. So they should live happily ever after right? Wrong. Vera has other plans of her own. Turns out the wedding invitation was a joke that she was playing on Colin (I told you Colin, you should have checked with your girl friend before taking off). A subtle hint for Colin to ask her to marry him – which our daft hero could not get. Now she wants him back. But Colin is in love with Mandy. Sorry Vera you seem to have missed the bus .
Hope Springs comes from the table of unknown director (unknown to me at least) Mark Herman whose 7 full length features to date haven’t ruffled any feathers at the BO I guess. Never heard of any of his movies. And it isn’t too difficult to understand why. There is an element of direction that is required in most movies and Herman falls woefully short at the basics itself. There are inconsistencies galore. And the attempt to make it funny also falls flat more often than not. Colin Firth’s sincerity is a saving grace but he plays what he used to be stereotyped as for a long time – a gilted lover. Minnie Driver is effective and Heather Graham is furniture as always. The support cast other than Oliver Platt do not inspire any confidence as the movie trundles along its 92 minutes (thankfully!!!!). As called out earlier – average movie. You will be quite indifferent at the end of it all. 5 on 10 is my verdict.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4128113433/
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