Hope Springs

The story so far: Broken-hearted English artist flies to a small New England town he just picked off the map to run away from a fiancée that hurt him. He meets up an an American girl and then ex-fiancée arrives and lots of fun etc etc etc

This *should* have been a good film. Three lead actors who, on their day, are more than excellent, and a script that, although formulaic in the rom-com mould, has enough changes to at least make it interesting.

So why does it fail?

None of Colin Firth, Heather Graham or Minnie Driver actually make us believe their character. I'm guessing that the film was pitched on the strengths of Firth in 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Bridget Jones' Diary' without realising that Colin Firth actually isn't Hugh Grant - mind you Grant would have failed at this film too. It needed somebody who wasn't a 'name' but then, of course, it wouldn't have got made.

In the role of the evil ex-fiancée I wonder who else they considered; Minnie Driver was an interesting choice that seemed not to work - whilst not exactly pure evil, you know the script-writers called for Cruella de Ville with a hint of niceness. Heather Graham was slightly more believable as the kooky girl-next-door type, but the stars of the show were Mary Steenburgen and Frank Collison as Joanie and Fisher.

The entire film strikes me as a money-making exercise for the studio. Throw an Englishman that the American rom-com demographics have heard of and sit back and hope the dollars come in.

"Hope Springs" is a romcom about a forlorn and jilted English artist (Firth) who travels to a rural New England community where he falls for a babe (Graham) only to find his ex-girlfriend from the UK (Driver) is hot on the trail of reconciliation. The result is a flat, insipid, silly tale of a man caught between two women which fails at delivering quality in either romance or comedy and creates characters who aren't even very likeable. The film has its moments though they're few and far between, good production value, and the camera is in focus throughout. Beyond that there's little good which can be said of this very ordinary film which grows annoying as time wears on and will work best, if at all, for fans of the players, romcom junkies, and sentimentalists. (C)

Okay, this is not the best movie ever made--even Colin Firth could not make it into a blockbuster hit. Nonetheless, it is quirky, fun and funny movie that is worth renting.

I read the book, New Cardiff, before seeing the movie and I have to admit, the movie captured the spirit of the book very well. Every character in the book came to life on the big screen through the cast. I loved Firth's portrayal of Colin, the artist, and his little dance in the movie. Minnie Driver's character was the most awful and annoying person ever and she does a great job of bring that to life. It is funny and, like I mentioned before, very quirky. Sure, the ending is not the most realistic but that was how the book went. I actually recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. It prepares you well for what the movie is about, just in case you had high hopes for it being an obviously fabulous movie. Instead, you will learn to like it, for all of its eccentricity.

The movie perhaps wasn't all that brilliant, but it wasn't all that bad after all...

It was actually fun.

Fun to see Collin Firth making fun of himself, also Oliver Platt being pathetic as the head of the city of Hope...

The chemistry was there. The script wasn't just superb, but the actors make it up to you.

It's a change from the Briget Jones's Diary, where Firth has to compete with Grant to get a girl. The girls are competing with each other to get him for a change.

I've enjoyed it. So has my wife.

Good to watch on DVD on a late evening. It'll cheer you up.

This movie was far from exceeding expectations, but then I might have expected a bit too much of it, purely due to Colin Firth. His character was as almost all his characters are, just a lot more lost than usual. None of the main characters, except maybe for Mary Steenburgen's, really knew what or who they were. The plot was rather idiotic, really (no one takes their clothes off in front of a stranger just because they feel so happy), but when a bunch of British/American stereotype jokes and a bucket full of clichés were added, enough to make a somehow cute story. Not gripping or remarkable, but cute. I think it was the childishness that appealed to me. And somehow in this era of epic movies its comforting to know that they still make these small simple movies.