Hope SpringsMovie Reviews


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Avg. Critic Score: 65 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 OK for kids 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Hope Springs dares viewers to look closely at the remarkable sight of naked adult intimacy and its discontents. Read full review

  • 80
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    If you're not in that demographic, don't dismiss it. You'll miss out on a genuinely sweet, perfectly acted, remarkably brave little movie that should make audiences swoon for something they thought was gone - a smart dramedy for grown-ups. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It's not much of a comedy - even Steve Carell, as the therapist, plays it straight here. But it's very effective as a cautionary tale. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Hope Springs knows happy endings are provisional. What this exuberant gift of a movie offers Kay and Arnold is a renewed appetite for life. And that never gets old. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    More comedic drama than midlife romantic comedy, rather literally titled Hope Springs holds few surprises but delivers plenty of warmth. Read full review

  • 70
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    The movie perseveres with affecting, sometimes startling candor, and eventually delivers on its promise by confronting the dark fears and furtive hopes of a couple no longer young. Read full review

  • 63
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    Rather than plunge into the murky marital waters of ambivalence and power struggle, the film bobs on the surface. No one would ever mistake David Frankel's dramedy of sexual healing for Ingmar Bergman's psychologically astute "Scenes From a Marriage." Read full review

  • 60
    Movieline |

    Had the movie been made with two different lead actors, I surely believe the movie would have been unwatchable. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Mark Feeney

    You feel embarrassed for Streep and Jones (Streep especially) because of the situations, often sexual, they're put in. They're definitely not mailing in their performances. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's about as uncomfortable as sitting through an interminable counseling session - involving two people you hardly know and don't much care about. Read full review

View more reviews for Hope Springs on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 15+ Marital dramedy is well acted but won't interest teens.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Hope Springs -- a romantic comedy about a sixtysomething couple trying to save their 31-year marriage -- isn't very likely to appeal to most tweens and teens. Although there's no nudity in the movie's one actual love scene, plenty of sex talk (positions, preferences, erectile dysfunction) is part of the conversation as the characters explore the reasons they're no longer intimate. And there are a few scenes of passionate kissing, foreplay, and a humorous attempt at a public sex act. Language is fairly mild except for several uses of "goddamn," "Jesus," and "Christ." The couple drinks during a dinner date and gets a bit tipsy. Overall, this is a pro-marriage story that encourages husbands and wives to appreciate each other and hold on to why they were drawn to each other in the first place.
  • Families can talk about how Hope Springs deals with a lot of mature issues -- especially the married couple's sex life. What is the movie's message about long-lasting marriages? How does counseling help Arnold and Kay?
  • How is Arnold and Kay's sixtysomething love story different than romantic comedies about younger couples?
  • What audience do you think this movie is targeted at? How can you tell? Does it succeed in reaching them?
The good stuff
  • message true4 Positive messages: Valuable messages and themes about the joys and sorrows of a successful, long marriage. As the marriage counselor says: "Even great marriages have terrible years." The counseling sessions are full of sage advice about rekindling the spark in a complacent marriage and not taking your spouse for granted, no matter how long you've been together.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: Kay works hard to try to save her marriage from the domestic malaise she feels. She seeks help from a professional marriage counselor and tries to do everything the counselor suggests to make things better, although Arnold is really hesitant and stubborn until he comes to realize just how much he wants to make Kay happy.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Not an issue
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: Lots of talk about sex (or the lack thereof) in long marriages. Kay and Arnold have a sexless marriage, and they have to discuss it with their counselor in detail. The couple offers many specifics about their sex lives, including sexual positions, use of toys, preferences, and fantasies. Also a few scenes of passionate kissing, foreplay, and a humorous attempt at a public sex act, but only one actual love scene (no nudity).
  • language false2 Language: Language includes "hell," "prick," "damn," and several exclamations of "goddamn," "Jesus Christ," "Christ," "Jesus," etc.
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: Product placements include The Golf Channel, Coldwater Creek, Barnes and Noble, Subaru Outback, and EconoLodge.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Arnold and Kay drink wine and champagne during (and after) a fancy dinner date. Kay drinks (a lot) at a local bar.
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