Hope Springs (Colin Firth)

(Amazon UK link)

A couple of months ago we watched one of our DVDs with the title ‘Hope Springs’, and last night we watched the other one. Both are billed as romantic comedies, both are about relationships and are mildly amusing in places rather than hilarious - but there the similarity ends.

It’s a long time since we first saw the second ‘Hope Springs’, which stars Colin Firth as a young man called, appropriately, Colin. He is a talented artist visiting the United States, and we quickly learn that he’s nursing a broken heart. His fiancee Vera (Minnie Driver) has behaved quite callously, and he wants to forget her.

He stays at a motel managed by Mr and Mrs Fisher (Frank Collison and Mary Steenburgen) who are responsible for much of the humour. Fisher has a most unusual and expressive face, and is one of the first people Colin draws. Mrs Fisher introduces him to Mandy (Heather Graham) who is supposedly a grief therapist. But she is rather a confused person, and she and Colin are quickly attracted to each other…

The story is something of a classic love triangle - inevitably Vera arrives and Colin is caught between her and Mandy, both wanting him, while he isn’t entirely sure what he wants, and tries to hide things from each of them, which naturally enough causes them both to become upset with him.

There are some other interesting characters in the film - the mayor (Oliver Platt) who is smug and entirely self-centered, quite amusingly so when he meets Colin and has his portrait drawn. And there are shopkeepers who take an inordinate interest in Colin…this is small-town America at its best.

There’s nothing deep in the film, and much that is shallow, but the acting is good the chemistry between Colin and both the leading ladies is excellent, and we learned in the ‘making of’ extra that in fact Colin Firth and Minnie Driver had been close friends for years, something that came across well in the film.

Colin’s comic timing is excellent and while in places I winced rather than chuckling, we did smile several times, and I found some of the dialogue quite amusing.

Rated 12A which seems about right, though I might have opted for 15. There’s quite a bit of implied sex, though nothing explicit, and I don’t recall any strong language. It’s certainly not suitable for children; unlikely to be of any interest to younger teenagers either. But for us, it made a good evening’s light viewing.

Recommended.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's DVD Reviews