Hope Springs (2012)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell

Director: David Frankel

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Rating: B+

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.  I went in expecting to enjoy it, heck even really enjoy it, but I suspected that a large part of my enjoyment was going to be the result of my overall enjoyment of bad romantic comedies.  There have been more than a few movies that, while I gave them poor ratings here I really enjoyed watching and look forward to seeing again.   I've seen each of the High School Musical movies more times than I care to admit and yet the highest rating I've given any of them was a C+.  Hope Springs however was actually genuinely really good.

Hope Springs is about Kay (Streep) and Arnold (Jones) Soame, a pair of empty nesters who have been married for thirty-one years.  For a number of years the pair have been sleeping in separate rooms and, in Kay's opinion, have essentially become two lonely people who just happen to share the same house.  Finally she decides to make the necessary change and forces Arnold to go to an intensive couple's therapy with Dr. Bernard Feld (Carell) in a coastal town in Maine.  The question is, are they able to let go of their reservations and the past and revitalize their marriage?

My favourite part about this movie was the chemistry between Streep and Jones.  I've seen Streep in romantic and comedic roles before, but I've never seen Jones in a rom-com and wasn't really sure what to expect from him.  He's the grumpy old man... and really, that's exactly who he is in Hope Springs.  He's a grumpy old man married to a reserved old woman, filling very much the stereotypical roles that we've created for people of their generation.  There's actually something about Kay that kind of reminded me of June Cleaver, although for a more modern era.  Even as the two are struggling to over come their problems, or struggling to continue to deny the existence of said problems, there's amazing chemistry between them.  It's the little touches and the little looks that they exchange.  Streep provides a lot of this, but when Arnold is talking about his wife it's done in such a manner that you can't help but see the love that this man feels for his wife.  Despite the fact that Jones isn't really a comedic actor I found a lot of the humour of the film was the result of him. He just has the way of giving a look that is so perfectly hilarious.

I was also really pleased by Carell's role.  As I've said before, I'm always a bit iffy about him going into a movie.  Sometimes he leaves me happy and sometimes he leaves me thoroughly disappointed.  This time he really surprised me.  His role was subtle and not exactly like what he's done before.  This time Carell was someone who was stable and successful.  He really pulled off therapist well.

I think the thing that I liked about this the most was the fact that there were no ridiculous gags or goofy bits.  There were no big fights or any over the top scenes, instead it's this subtle, sweat journey as the distance between the couple both widens and shrinks as the film progresses - as seen very literally in the way that they sit on the couch at their therapy sessions and their other interactions.  It's all very cute, very sweet, and very real.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

Starring: Steve Carrell, Keira Knightley
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: A-

"I promise not to steal anything if you promise not to rape me." "Agreed."

I was pleasantly surprised by this film.  I wasn't expecting to dislike it, but I also wasn't expecting to be overly wowed by it -  to be honest, I figured it would be a rather mindless, summer romantic comedy that I would forget almost as quickly as I watched it.  Having now seen it I can't say for sure how much of my enjoyment was because of my low expectations and how much of it was because of the movie itself, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised and even somewhat wowed.  Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a surprisingly touching story, nicely balancing the comedic, dramatic, and romantic elements, without going too far in any one direction or descending into the cheese factor so typically associated with the summer romance.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World picks up with the announcement that the asteroid Matilda is about to crush into the world, and Dodge (Carrell)'s reacts by climbing out of the car and running away, never to be seen again. Dodge himself takes a lot more time to react to the impending end of the world, for a time even continuing to go about his life.  Then he meets his neighbour, Penny (Knightley), who gives him all the mail that she has collected for him over the three years that they had been neighbours, including a letter from his high school girlfriend, Olivia, who professes her love for him.  Dodge and Penny reconnect in the middle of a riot, when he saves her, her ex-boyfriend Owen (Adam Brody), and Dodge's dog Sorry.  In a moment of desparation, Dodge tells Penny that he knows someone who had a plane and might be able to get her to England, so she can say goodbye to her family before the apocalypse - if she'll help him find Olivia.

I was really surprised by how much I liked both Dodge and Penny.  Neither is a particularly successful person, with Dodge being very much the typical Steve Carrell character that seems to have failed to have achieved anything in his life, and Penny being this almost gypsy like character; a hopeless romantic and serial monogamist, who really looks like she would fit well in a rendition of Rent.  Despite the fact that neither is exactly successful, nor really strong individuals, they're both strong characters.  You really get a strong feel for who both Dodge and Penny are, they both have such strong voices and more to their character.  It's very clear that when Scafaria was writing the script she had a strong idea who these people were, what they were motivated by, and why they were the way they are.  What's more is that by the end of the film, the viewer has a good idea of this as well.

While the story itself was really strong, I did find that the comedy was a bit hit-or-miss.  I really didn't care for Dodge's friends, and found in general when the comedy depended on large groups of people it threatened to cross the line a bit.  Some of the jokes ran just a little too long, others could have been avoided entirely - weirdly enough, some of these moments are the ones that made it into the trailer, which in my opinion suggested that the film is rather different from what it actually is.  The film can be divided into two parts; pre- and post-riot.  The pre-period is the weaker part of the film, with too many additional characters who don't have the strength of the leads, and jokes that just aren't necessary.  The post-period is the strength of the film, as the two mains grow.  I also really liked how some of the things that I wanted to happen after seeing the trailer happened, although I was rather surprised by the ending.

Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

Stars: Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen
Director: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Rating: B-

Another Hollywood attempt at a Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who! tells the story of Horton the elephant in his journey to save the Whos.  Horton (Carrey) is, at best, rather eccentric and at worst full out nuts, but he has amazing hearing and never forgets a thing – after all, he is an elephant.  The Whos are nothing at all like the Whos of The Grinch, but rather furry hominoid creatures that kind of resemble monkeys.  Microscopic monkeys, that is, who live on a speck that has landed on a clover.  Horton, being the only creature who is aware of the Whos existence sets out on a trek to find a safe place for the clover, thus preventing the destruction of their planet.  The other animals are predominantly a bit hesitant of Horton and worry about the influence that he has on their children, his only real friend being Morton the Mouse (Rogen), who doesn’t actually believe in the Whos but still supports the elephant.  The most militant of the other animals is the kangaroo, Jane (Burnett), who is aided by the vulture Vlad Vladikoff (Arnett).  Meanwhile, the Whos are preparing for a big celebration and thus do not wish to heed the warnings of Mayor Ned McDodd (Carell) about their possible impending doom.  Thus, it is up to Horton to save the speck and the Mayor to convince the Whos that they are living upon a speck.

I want to say, something about this being complicated, but I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot lately.  Even though the plot is a bit complicated, it isn’t so overly complicated that it fails to make sense.  In fact, where other made for children movies have failed plot-wise, Horton succeeds.  There is a lot going on but everything makes sense, as does the motivation of the many different characters.  It’s all linked together.  Jane is a total type A, domineering mother, who won’t let her son out of her sight.  She fears the influence of the eccentric Horton, who is making himself look insane by talking to a speck – no one else has ears big enough to hear the Whos.  The Whos, with the exception of the Mayor, do not hear Horton, because they don’t have the technology to receive his words (the two speak through an intricate system of pipes on the top of the Mayor’s house), and thus do not believe the Mayor when he says that their planet is simply a speck on another planet.  To be fair, I doubt I would believe such a thing if I was in the Whos’ position.

The problem with Horton is similar to the problem with The Lorax.  It is more of a product of the 21^st century and the creators of the film than it is a product of Dr. Seuss.  As such, it is rather misleading.  I personally didn’t want to see this film because of the minds of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, and certainly not because of any of the directors or producers (none of which I’ve ever heard of before).  If I want to see a Jim Carrey or a Steve Carell movie, it’s not going to be an animated children’s movie (or even a live action children’s movie).  I want to watch a movie based on a Dr. Seuss story because I like Dr. Seuss stories.  Transporting it from the fictional world of Seuss into a contemporary world  full of pop culture references is just unnecessary.  It takes away from the story and is like making Willie Wonka the son of a domineering dentist who never let his child eat candy.  Oh, wait, I guess Hollywood’s done that already.