This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It came as part of a 3 pack of movies and it had Colin Firth in it so I thought I would give it a try. It was ridiculous....a total waste of film. Colin is an English artist and has come to America because his ex-fiancé says she has run off with someone else. Apparently, he is invited to the wedding or something but he never goes there. He immediately meets Heather Graham's character and on the first "date" she gets drunk and they have sex....so they are having sex....there's not much else to their relationship....and Minnie Driver (the ex-fiancé) shows up and says that she was just kidding about getting married to someone else...she just wanted Colin to get jealous and finally marry her. Apparently they have been together for years. So Minnie Driver's character is supposed to be this total bitch which makes you wonder why she and Colin were together in the first place. The main characters are shallow. They are not very likable. Colin has strung Minnie's character along for years. He sleeps with Heather Graham and they eventually become engaged but you really don't see much chemistry between them. Minnie's character stays around and bugs the couple even after it obvious that she and Colin have nothing left....kind of pathetic. The story is boring. The best character is the mayor. The hotel owners are also more interesting than the main characters.

Hope Springs is directed by Mark Herman, who also writes the screenplay from the novel "New Cardiff" written by Charles Webb. It stars Colin Firth, Heather Graham, Minnie Driver, Mary Steenburgen, Frank Collison and Oliver Platt. Shot on location in British Columbia, photography is by Ashley Rowe and the music by John Altman. Plot sees Firth as a depressed artist, who after being dumped by his fiancée, Vera (Driver), retreats to little town Vermont for some R & R. However, when he meets odd care home nurse Mandy (Graham), an unlikely romance begins to form, but Vera turns up to try and put a spanner in the works.The sort of film that you watch because there is nothing else on and you want a light and breezy time filler before going to bed. For an hour, Herman's film delivers on its quirky promise, boasting genuine laughs, good acting performances and a zippy soundtrack (Ash/Blink 182/Garbage). But then it runs out of steam and you find yourself wondering just what is the point of the central romance? Is it just a case of two people finding each other in unusual circumstances? Because, like, love is everywhere! These basic rom-com values are easy to stomach (why else watch a rom-com?), as long as the comedy is broad and fills out the narrative to the end. But that doesn't happen here and the supporting character actors are badly wasted: very annoying in the case of Steenburgen, who playing the foxy/slinky hotel owner had a character that had the potential to provide more laughs in the story.On the plus side it's good fare from Firth, even tho it's about as challenging as asking him to read a book, and Graham can't be accused of lacking gusto and petite charm. While "Mr Unique Face" Frank Collison gets a bit more dialogue than he usually does in films. There's also much to enjoy with Ashley Rowe's photography, some lovely choice of colour lenses for the Autumnal back drop. It's a blip on the CV of director Herman, a CV that boasts the likes of Brassed Off, Little Voice & The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas, but you sense that the material could have made for a great movie. But what started off so well sadly descends into being laborious and unadventurous. 5/10

We've all got them...those DVD's that sit for years on a shelf, those unwatched things that just sit there amongst the great and the glorious, innocuous plastic boxes that remain unopened and virginal, their cinematic delights undiscovered and dormant. But while we by-pass their mysterious entertainments in favour of their more attractive brethren, these runts of the DVD litter bide their time, like frogs hibernating in frozen mud, waiting for us to open their plastic sarcophagi and release them from their slumbers...So it was with this movie.If I say to you that it was probably the worst movie I have had the misfortune to endure for many a moon, I would be guilty of deception.It is worse than that.If I said that it was definitely the worst movie I have watched since "Have you heard about the Morgans", you may get the idea that I am, in some respects, a person whose opinion should be treated with scorn and contempt - with much justification I might add - on the very reasonable grounds that anyone who watches both of these movies is almost certainly of unsound mind and is probably compelled to howl at the moon in perpetuity.But before you reach for the silver bullets, let me at least try to prevent you from wasting a single second of your precious life on this execrable pile of steaming dung masquerading as "entertainment" by attempting a thorough analysis of what went wrong, an accident investigation report, if you will.What, you may reasonably ask, is Colin Firth - this year's hot tip for Oscar glory courtesy of The King's Speech, doing in this movie? Well, he's doing his usual stick-up-the-rectum Englishman act. Only this time he gets to see Heather Graham's only apparent talents, namely a fine pair of naked breasts. Which we don't actually get to see. Because the director keeps the camera firmly above the nipple line. Shame.Now I don't know about you but I'm a little puzzled as to exactly how Mr. Firth has managed to make a living in the acting business on account of the fact that he can't actually act. Except for portraying the same boring character, which he repeats in every role he presents for our entertainment.In short, he is a duffer, a blank-faced, uptight English twit.Which means he is almost certainly just him being himself and not acting at all.Rather like that other purveyor of English diffidence, Hugh Grant. Those of a sharp eye may have noticed that these two scions of the acting fraternity are the very same rascals responsible for the two lamentable movies I mentioned previously.Is there a pattern emerging, I hear you ask.Yes.Not only do Colin and Hugh blight our screens in the two worst movies of the century, as previously discussed, but they also appeared in tandem in the two Bridget Jones movies. A bad omen. But there's more. Mary Steenburgen, who couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, also appears in both of these abominations. Playing the same small town American character in both. Is this a conspiracy?No.And then there's the script. Or lack of it.Supposedly adapted from a novel entitled "New Cardiff", it is utter bilge. It probably appealed to Mr. Firth because he thought it an ideal showcase for his feeble talents. That and the fact he got to have a good look at Heather Graham's rather talented breasts. Nice work if you can get it.And so we come to Minnie Driver and her peculiarly shaped head.I have to admit that she possess a very memorable face. She looks like someone has planed the angles of her face from a lump of wood. Which is very apt, given her wooden acting talents.This movie is no good. It is a bad movie. Don't watch it.If you see it hibernating amongst your DVD collection, carefully remove it and put it in the nearest dustbin or better still, commit it to the flames of the nearest bonfire. If you have no bonfires in your neighbourhood due to it being in a smokeless zone, burn down your house after carefully removing everything of value except this worthless article. Then claim on your insurance and have your house re-built.

Colin Ware (Colin Firth), a Brit, decides to jet off to the town of Hope in New England. This is because his fiancé (Minnie Driver) sent him an invitation to her wedding ceremony with another man! Colin, an artist, is the talk of the local residents, where newcomers are few and far between. Mistaking jet lag for a more serious mental condition, his new landlord (Mary Steenbergen) arranges for him to meet Mandy (Heather Graham), a nursing home employee with a penchant for helping others reduce their stress level. Mandy, a total free spirit, drinks a bit too much at one of their first meetings and ends up spending the night with Colin. Talk about what the doctor ordered! This is just the distraction that Colin needs. But, is their budding relationship merely a blip on the radar of life? What an absolute joy this film is! It's funny, its sweet and its clever. Firth is outstanding as the stuffy Brit who learns to let loose in his new surroundings, giving one of his best performances ever. Graham, too, is charming as the small city girl with brains and a big, big heart. Driver, no surprise, is also fine as the lady who just may be realizing what she lost. The rest of the cast is equally nice. As for the New England setting in the fall, it is beyond lovely and adds mightily to the film's enjoyment, as do the great costumes and production values. All romantic comedy fans, spring out of your seat this minute, if you have never seen this film, and run straight to the video store or library. It is made-to-order for YOU. But, even if you are not a romcom nut, you will still like this very funny, very touching film. It has charms to sooth the savage beast, that is for sure.