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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Hope isn't part of the
vocabulary of couple Colin Ware (Colin Firth) and
Vera (Minnie Driver). Vera dumps her fiancé Colin
after years of being together on a whim. Suddenly,
Colin needs to escape England because, well,
England reminds Colin of Vera and Vera is still in
his pores, he still smells her perfume and still
cares for her even though she's an idiot. Colin
flees to America to escape everything that reminds
him of Vera. He finds peace in creating art and
decides that Hope is the perfect place to escape
the world.
Joanie Fisher (Mary Steenburgen in another great
performance) runs the hotel that Colin is staying
at. It's clear from the moment she meets him that
he's troubled. When he begins banging his head on
the glass doors of the hotel she knows just what
to do. She calls her friend Mandy who provides a
great massage, should to cry on and eventually
love. These two losers at love appear to be in the
right place after all. Until Vera shows up
threatening to stay in Hope until Colin returns
with her to England.
A slight enjoyable comedy, "Hope Springs" provides
just the right relief after a stressful day. All
the actors fit perfectly in their roles and
although none of them has to stretch to play their
characters, they're delightful to watch on screen
together. A strong supporting cast including the
delightful Oliver Platt and wonderful Mary
Steenburgen aren't given quite enough to do in the
film. Unfortunately Mark Herman's adaptation of
Charles Webb's (The Graduate) novel New Cardiff,
doesn't quite build to any comedic momentum or
payoff. The dialogue is fine and the performances
very good but the material just doesn't come to
life the way it should. I'm rather surprised given
some of Herman's other films ("Noises Off") and
it's a pity as the material has so much more comic
potential than is achieved here.
"Hope Springs" looks terrific in a nice transfer
that captures the vivid colors of fall on the east
coast. The sound, on the other hand, leaves quite
a bit to be desired. The mix is unusually low for
many sequences and isn't equalized well at all.
You'll need to turn up the volume during many of
the dialogue heavy scenes and quickly crank it
down when any music springs to life on the
soundtrack otherwise your ear drums will bleed.
Apparently the person responsible for the
soundtrack transfer fell asleep during the film
either that or had a run in with Colin's ex-fiance
Vera.
"Hope Springs" comes as a bare bones DVD with only
a "Making of" featurette. No commentary from the
cast (which is a bit of a surprise). Since the
film had a limited release from Touchstone, tht's
no surprise and it's pretty clear that the company
didn't have a lot of confidence in the film. The
timing of its release coincides with the much more
successful "Love Actually" which featured Firth.
A slight enjoyable comedy that will work if you
have no expectations, "Hope Springs" isn't exactly
a failure just an underachiever given its
pedigree. The image looks great but the soundtrack
is, at times, barely audible. This is the kind of
film that would benefit from a healthy helping of
extras. Sadly, we don't get any worth noting. |
