Customer Reviews

Hope Springs

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

If you are able to multitask, and do something productive while watching this pathetic waste of talent and money, that would be good. Better yet, just skip the movie. Better to watch Bridget Jones yet again if you want a dose of Colin Firth. Why he agreed to do this drivel is beyond me, he doesn't need to stoop that low, nor does Minnie Driver, surely. A total waste of the rental fee, I sure as heck wouldn't buy it! The scenery is nice though.

I stumbled across this movie on my INDEMAND program from my satelite company. I was so excited to learn there was a Colin Firth romantic comedy that I had not seen. I have loved Colin since I first saw him in Pride and Prejudice in high school. (now my fav movie).
This movie was such a disspointment. Heahter Grahm is just insipid in this role, and absoulutly does not fit with Colin's character. There were a few funny scenes, but in general the plot made no sense. Their was no explination for most of the events, and no reason for half of them. Skip this one and watch one of his better movies (I suggest a period peice

I ordered this, even with the bad ratings, because being a huge Colin Firth fan, I have everything that the man has ever done. He is awesome as usual, but the story is pathetic, and the American actors are awful. I just cringe to see him warming to Heather Graham, who does not deserve to share the screen with this awesome man. The story is disjointed, and makes no sense. Other than the gorgeous Mr. Firth, its not worth the time it takes to watch it!

Massive Colin fan but he needs to stop doing american films. They are ruining him as an actor and he deserves better than the junk they throw out. The movie was horrible. I was so bored. Don't waste $4 on rental - don't waste 50 cents at a yeard sale. it's garbage. He looked hot as usually but I can't sit through a bad movie even if it stars Colin. Colin please stick to real cinema, to smart cinema, to british cinema........or anything not american. Same with Minnie Driver, she's too good for them as well.

This movie seems to be written by a committee, which held too few meetings and got not enough catering. The directing is non-existent. The writing should have been tossed into a corner in the first place. The editing is lame; sudden quick cutting, splicing in scenes which have no introduction. It is bewildering how really good actors could have signed onto this project. The Heather Graham character is miscast -- her accent and bearing are all southern California, not Maine, not to mention her straight blond hair. (Another hackneyed blond! When will they learn? Just seeing long-straight-haired blonds these days where they don't belong is to experience being patronized -- do they think we don't recognize a mind-flattening cliche?) Her 'fun' naked scene with Firth (with her back to the camera) has no chemistry or elan or reason for being there. -- Though her acting ability shows through at times, through no fault of the film-makers', and I almost had 'hope' for the movie when it did show.

No one in this film seems to understand his or her own character.

Firth comes to a small Maine town from England to forget his fiance who had -- inexplicably -- sent him an invitation to her wedding to another man. He is a portrait artist and spends his time (without explanation or preamble) doing portraits of all the town's main characters. There is a mayor whose role is unclear; I cut-and-ran 3/4 of the way through -- the ending would not have saved it and my mind was being too blunted as it was.

It is bewildering that Firth's character would fall into bed with a young woman (brought in by the motel owner as a 'healer') who has taken him to a 'garden' to cheer him up but who fast-downs about a quart of booze when she gets there; we don't know anything about why she would do that; how could someone drink even cold tea that fast? Why doesn't he stop her, or leave her as fast as he can? -- She just changes character on him; he has virtually no reaction. and makes him drive home although we subsequently see no signs of drunkeness on her part, just strange, inexplicable choices. Her behavior is not winsome enough to be called 'quirky' or 'cute'. We don't have a sense of why anybody is doing anything they do. Why does the fiance (Minnie Driver') show up and tell Firth she was only trying to make him take some action when she sent him the (now bogus) wedding invitation? Why is she so completely unlikable, even more than the other characters? Why would the artist even be with her in the first place? Who is this guy? Neither the actor, the director, nor the writer gives us any clue. Why does the Firth character fall into a 'comfortable' relationship with the fast-drinking blond when we haven't even seen it begin?

The motel owner (Mary Steenburgen) is the only person who has some (few) reasonable lines and delivers them well -- indeed I (again) had 'Hopes' for the film when she first came on screen; her Maine accent may be accurate, who knows from here in California, and shows up the Graham accent for what it is: California. Driver's 'British' accent fluctuates between what we think of as English and working class English -- we can't tell from what level of society she comes or what region in England. [This happens all too often in British movies, using Brits to do 'American' accents wrongly (either as Texan or extremely flat; no adjustment for the more flexible body language of Americans -- see the 'American' man in 'My House in Umbria') and in American movies using Americans to botch supposedly English ones. You can compare these poor attempts with the well-trained in 'Billy....' (the boy-ballet dancer movie) and 'Strange Relations', in which accents are firmly in place, making each story believable. In those flicks, also, kid actors are chosen (Billy and the kids in Strange Relations set in Liverpool) from the region from which the story is set and so are fully believable -- there are excellent actors everywhere, apparently, and findable if a casting director will look.]

Colin Firth, in this film, has few good lines, little directing suggestions, and so 'just looks' for too long a time on the screen. His character's recent loss doesn't seem to explain the lack of reaction on his part. A pity to waste such an actor -- he was absolutely great in the HBO production of 'The Importance of Being Earnest', and others, but again, the Brits seem to do movies with more attention and thought a greater percentage of the time (and our American acting Cecily in 'Earnest' (Reese Witherspoon) had a perfectly good British accent which did not stand out and make us say: $#%$#). (The Aussie playing Brenda in 'Six Feet Under' (HBO) works hard on her accent and gets it right.)

It is downright dispiriting to find capable actors lending themselves to such a script, which, as should have been obvious, was no Bridget Jones from the start.

Okay, first off this movie is not going to scream oscar winner but it's still a fun quirky movie with likeable characters. Yes, I'm a huge Colin Firth fan and no that's not why I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of bad reviews. Yes, the movie is a romantic comedy but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it's predictable. Perhaps because I've not read the book that this movie was based on I did not come in with any kind of expectations. Who knows. I do recommend this movie as a nice way to spend a few hours.

Whle I agree that this was not Colin's best performace it must be admitted that his character of colin weir is a much more likable character than the one that he portrayed in Circle of Friends. I thought htat the film was a sweethearted comedy that would have done etter if there had been a bit more screen time so that the background between him and Minni Drier's character could hae been less foced. Other than that it was an very enjoyable film.

I wasn't expecting much - I rented it simply because of Colin Firth.

It's nice, it's what Disney/Touchstone are coming up with for their adult audience.

But the idea that a broken-hearted man falls in love again, so quickly and almost without questioning his lost love bothers me -- can we go in and out of love that easily?

Minnie Driver is very good in a catty diva type of character.

Rent it but don't buy it.

Another Colin Firth fan here to warn you away from this movie. This is one of the most cliched and predictable romantic comedies to come down the pike in quite a while. But it's worst than that: It fails to make us care one bit about the characters.

It's not Firth's fault -- he squeezes what charm he can out of the material. Minnie Driver also does her best -- in fact, her funny, clipped delivery in this makes me yearn to see her do Noel Coward. And Heather Graham has a couple of hilarious moments, although it's hard to see the long-term appeal of her off-the-rails character to "Colin."

Oh, I see I'm making it sound better than it is. Trust me, it's skippable. Nothing makes sense in this movie, but the forced plot -- or what little there is of it -- exists only two get these two obviously incompatible characters together in the end. Instead of being happy for the characters, you cringe at the thought of their getting together. Can anything be a clearer sign of failure for a romantic comedy?

I am an unapologetic Colin fan (much to my husband's chagrin) but even I feel the need to apologize for this one. If you cannot wait for Love Actually or Girl w/a Pearl Earring(the DVD is gonna be cooler than the movie with the 'lost' scenes from the book that a lot of us "firth-ites" were looking for! but I digress!) you would be much better served by purchasing some of the lesser-known films of Firth! Go get Fever Pitch (order from amazon.canada to get the more tastefull cover) or A Month in the Country w/Ken Brannaugh (bonus!) or if you are intrepid, obtain an Hour of the Pig/Advocate (both titles are the same movie. Even the absurd fantastical Mike Binder film Londinium/Fourplay is better.

The problem is the book is quirky and a great deal of changes were made from book to screenplay. Things get muddled and the principle explanation for why he chose America is lost. Plus, to make the town in to Hope they lost the New Cardiff-old Cardiff Vera connection that explains out a lot more of the ridiculous points.

Let's all hope that Richard Curtis does a better translation of BJ2 Edge of Reason...since missing from BJD was the whole rescue/Pride & Prejudice parallel with Darcy saving the family from disgrace. It would have been awesome! (Colin quite literally going around the world for you ending up with a chase where he's all unkempt and dishevelled....mmm) Anyways...

I own this disc and have watched more than once. It really is very fluffy and silly. But since my collection also incudes Master of the Moor and Apartment Zero, I'm going for the complete over quality thing. Bottom line is Colin is always awesome even when paired with Heather Graham.

To sum up: spend no money here...
Instead: BJD, Fever Pitch(highly recommend!), P&P (of course!), English Patient(why would she...???), Tumbledown, Nostromo, Valmont, Donovan Quick, Hour of the Pig/Advocate, or save up for Love Actually & Girl w/pearl earring! Also remember Trauma and BJ2 coming to theaters soon!