I confess that there are problems married couples encounter in their sex lives that I am not yet equipped to understand. Even after decades together, two people can reach a point where they cannot create intimacy, romance or spontaneity. They are stuck; too afraid to make sparks.
It’s one reason “Hope Springs” will resonate more with elderly audiences than it did with me. The rift between Kay and Arnold may be all too familiar to some. In that way, David Frankel has organized his film and his characters in such a way that anyone could project their own problems onto the scenario.
This casting then is a no-brainer. Meryl Streep as Kay is the queen of “the ordinary woman,” an actress who feels authentic with every choice she makes and has never been seen as a sex symbol. In contrast, Tommy Lee Jones as Arnold is the king of curmudgeonly, hard-nosed men and brings a matter of fact-ness to every situation. And Steve Carell as their marriage counselor has molded himself into an intentionally blank slate, a character who can ask the right questions and listen with quiet attention.
Kay approaches the idea of marriage counseling after 31 years because she’s too intimidated to confront Arnold otherwise. You can see it in the way Streep tussles her hair, trembles as she caresses Arnold or twirls the strings on her blouse that she wants to be sexy and beautiful, but her guarded innocence is ever so slightly preventing her. And Arnold’s reluctance stems from a desire to keep things the same.
Their marriage is pitiful, but not exceptionally bad. Nothing about “Hope Springs” is specific to these characters. No sex, useless house gifts, falling asleep in front of the Golf Channel: these are marital problems that could happen to anyone.
So when they enter into counseling, they don’t make any breakthroughs. They just bump into more walls. Carell asks that they perform “sexercises” to better their romance, but it just creates awkward tension. And why wouldn’t it? When even the smallest touch or gesture feels as icky as Streep learning to perform fellatio on a banana, the movie is bound to waver between uncomfortable comedy and irritating, dramatic bickering.
“Hope Springs” treads in the familiar, the gooey and the uncomfortable. It doesn’t make statements about love at old age or provide hurdles for Kay and Arnold to overcome. It’s just a will-they/won’t-they story that’s been 31 years in the making.
2 stars