Film

Hope Springs

Name: Hope Springs
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: 2012
Cast: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart, Marin Ireland

A warm, unsentimental comedy-drama about a long-married couple seeking to reignite their relationship through intensive therapy. It's tenderly funny and occasionally cutting, never patronizing about aging bodies or desire. For anyone who's been in a relationship long enough to wonder what comes next, or who appreciates Streep and Jones doing quietly excellent work together.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like grown-up romance where the comedy comes from awkward honesty between two people who know each other too well, and a quiet therapist's office does more work than any big set piece.

Skip it if you want the laughs to keep coming, since the mood keeps shifting toward uncomfortable and tender stretches that sit still longer than the jokes would like.

What it asks of you: It runs about a hundred minutes and is mostly talk in small rooms, so it rewards patience and a willingness to sit through silences that feel slightly too long.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

About Schmidt2002

Jack Nicholson as a retired man navigating marriage, family, and mortality with the same blend of comedy and genuine melancholy that Hope Springs achieves. Both films find humor in disappointment without dismissing it.

But It's often uncomfortably bleak about human connection, and Nicholson's performance can feel abrasive rather than endearing in places.

Enough Said2013

Another Julia Louis-Dreyfus romance examining middle-aged love and compromise with intelligence and warmth. It shares Hope Springs' refusal to make aging desire seem ridiculous or impossible.

But The plot mechanics feel slight, and the film relies on its leads' likability to carry scenes that could feel thin on paper.

The Holdovers2023

A winter-bound character study about two men learning to connect across resistance and habit. It has the same patient, unhurried pacing and the same belief that people can change if they try.

But Deliberately slow and emotionally muted; it asks you to meet it in quietness rather than giving you obvious dramatic beats to latch onto.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hope Springs

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Carnage2011

Both examine the friction beneath long commitment—Hope Springs asks if we can fix it, Carnage asks if it was ever really there at all.

Yasmina Reza's play adapted by Polanski into a fierce, compressed battle over civility between two couples. It shares Hope Springs' interest in the gap between what we perform and what we feel in committed relationships, but trades comedy for formal brutality. A masterclass in how relationships contain hidden violence.

But It's deliberately stagey, with real-time pacing that feels artificial; the aggression and cruelty escalate in ways that feel theatrical rather than naturalistic.

Marvin's Room1996

A family drama with Streep and Diane Keaton finding unexpected lightness in a dark situation. Like Hope Springs, it trusts comedy and emotion to coexist without cheapening either.

But It's set in a hospital, so there's a weight here that Hope Springs avoids—some find the mix of tones unbalanced rather than generous.

Nancy2018

A quiet, strange film about connection and disappointment with an unexpectedly tender heart. It has Hope Springs' sense that people trying matters even when things don't work out neatly.

But It's deliberately oblique and doesn't offer narrative satisfaction; many viewers find it deliberately frustrating rather than thoughtful.

Still Alice2014

Julianne Moore in a clear-eyed, unsentimental film about a woman and her marriage contending with decline. The emotional clarity and restraint align with Hope Springs' values.

But It's about Alzheimer's disease; the sadness accumulates in ways that aren't leavened by comedy, and some find it too painful to recommend.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel2012

Older actors (including Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson) in a film that treats aging as a beginning rather than a conclusion. Sunnier in tone than Hope Springs but similar in its underlying optimism.

But It's often accused of being too soft and tourist-board glossy, papering over real complications with charm and nostalgia.

Krisha2016

A documentary-realist drama about a family struggling to stay together after one member's addiction. It has Hope Springs' belief that commitment and effort might—just might—matter.

But It's deliberately unglamorous and demanding; it offers no catharsis, and many viewers find its refusal to resolve emotionally alienating.

A Late Quartet2012

A chamber piece about four musicians (Streep included) and the fractures that appear in longstanding relationships. Shot in the same year as Hope Springs with similar themes about what binds people.

But It's claustrophobic and often feels like a play, with arguments that go in circles without clear resolution, frustrating those seeking narrative closure.

Come and See1985

Both films are about transformation through commitment—Hope Springs to trying again, Come and See to bearing witness. But where one is about repair, the other is about irreparable damage.

A Soviet war film following a boy's disillusionment across a single catastrophic day. It seems entirely separate from Hope Springs until you recognize the shared engine: both are about how people change through experience, and whether that change is for better or worse. Extraordinary and harrowing.

But It's one of the most brutal films ever made, depicting violence against children and depicting despair without reprieve. This is not a film you watch for comfort.

Bergman Island2021

Both films ask what intimacy looks like after decades, but Bergman Island suggests that maybe we can never really know another person, while Hope Springs suggests we might still try.

A film about a screenwriting couple (Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth) visiting Ingmar Bergman's island and gradually losing grip on what's real in their marriage. It's a formally playful, surreal meditation on long partnership and the stories we tell about it. Uncommon and genuinely unsettling.

But It's deliberately metanarrative and fragmented, requiring active engagement; many viewers find it pretentious or frustratingly evasive about emotional stakes.