HOPE SPRINGS - A Second Coming of Age Story!

I just saw HOPE SPRINGS, the new movie starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, and loved it! Although the trailer made the film look like a goofy comedy, it's really an honest portrayal of a couple suffering from a loveless, sexless marriage. This film will resonate with any couple who has gone through the tortuous experience of couple therapy, or who have wondered if they will ever feel excited about each other again. HOPE SPRINGS asks a lot of tough questions that will have you not only laughing and crying, but squirming! I have referred to HOPE SPRINGS as a second coming of age story, because, as all of us empty-nesters know, after your kids leave for college, and after you've dried your tears, life can get pretty exciting again! If you've managed to get through the 18+ years of child-raising without killing each other (or divorcing, to which many can attest is akin to a death), there is great potential for couples to rediscover who they were as individuals, and as a couple. The characters in HOPE SPRINGS have not, however, ventured out into self-rediscovery. They have instead become even more firmly entrenched in their gender roles, and have closed their separate bedroom doors to any kind of connection. The film is about giving a relationship one last shot before throwing in the towel, and the painful process of divulging one's truth aloud. I love that we can go to our theaters and video rental vendors to watch high quality, thoughtful films that not only include, but feature characters over 50! We are not just parents and grandparents, the dying friend or the eccentric old aunt. Meryl and Tommy display their wrinkles and extra pounds with unapologetic dignity and grace, but their vestiges of age aren't the point. These are two worthwile people trying to deconstruct the faults and fallacies they've stored within their 30+ year marriage, before it's too late. I think HOPE SPRINGS encourages the viewer to take a look at their own marriage and question whether there is room for improvement, on both sides. Thankfully, in the last 10 years there have been an increasing number of great films featuring middle aged and older adults. Some of my favorites have been The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Something's Gotta Give, I Am Love, The Bucket List, The Visitor, It's Complicated, How About You, and Calendar Girls. Some oldies but goodies: The Four Seasons, Fried Green Tomatoes, On Golden Pond, Trip To Bountiful, Ladies in Lavendar, and Antonia's Line. What are some of your favorite films featuring adults over 50? I hope you'll let Hollywood know that you want to see films that tell our stories, by going to see HOPE SPRINGS in the theater, and buying DVDs that you can enjoy again and again, such as The Four Seasons and It's Complicated.