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Parents' Guide to

Hope Springs

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Marital dramedy is well acted but won't interest teens.

Movie PG-13 2012 100 minutes
Hope Springs Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 17+

Based on 10 parent reviews

age 17+

BE CAREFUL!

As a parent, I was mortified that this was rated PG13. I don't want to give explicit details that a child may read. Let's just say, that this should be rated "R". There were SEVERAL scenes that were VERY adult in nature, although no nudity was involved.

This title has:

Too much sex
age 14+

Too much sex for even some teens

Sex: *A woman and a man have oral sex in a movie theater. You can see the woman get onto her knees and undo his pants, but you cannot see his privet parts. You can see a side glimpse of her face moving back and forth and her husband's face is all happy and smiling. *A man tells a woman to be easy with the teeth when she is giving him oral sex and the woman gets embarrassed and thinks she is bad at it. *A man and a woman fall back on to the floor to have sex. They remove some clothes and kiss, but you do not see any breasts, chests of privet parts. They have sex once and then stop because the woman feels sad. **A man and a woman kiss in a bed for a long period of time. The move on top of each other and then the camera cuts off when the start of have sex. *A man lifts a woman up on to a counter and kissed her when she is in the middle of doing the dishes. *A man tells his wife that she wants her to give him oral sex under his desk at work *A man tells his wife that he wants to have a threesome with their neighbor. *A man asks a married couple if they like to use sex toys *A man asks a married couple what positions they like to have sex in. *A man talks about the time he and his wife had sex on the kitchen floor. *A man and a woman briefly kiss before the man goes to work. *A man asks a woman if she liked to give or receive oral sex. *A man asks a married couple if they had any sex dreams. *A woman tells her husband that she thinks that he only likes to have sex with her. *A woman caresses her husbands legs and then she caresses right around his pen*s while he is clothes, but he insists that she stop. *A woman touches herself and you can hear her moaning. *A man asks a woman if she masturbates and she says "not anymore". *A woman reads a book on sex tips and practices oral sex on a banana. ----- No violence ----- Language: godda*n, pr*ck.... nothing over the top but there are a few uses of God's name that aren't very appropriate --- Drinking: *There is some drinking in bars and restaurants, but all responsible drinking.

This title has:

Too much sex

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10 ):
Kids say (7 ):

Watching Streep and Jones on screen is like experiencing a master class in acting. Here are two of Hollywood's most esteemed performers playing a couple whose marriage is in need of an everyday type of repair. Their problems don't revolve around something melodramatic like adultery and betrayal; their issues very authentically explore the myriad ways in which a husband and wife can disappoint and alienate each other after three decades together. Director David Frankel doesn't shy away from zooming in on Streep and Jones' lined faces as they reveal the hurts and truths about their nearly broken but hopefully salvageable love story.

On Dr. Feld's couch, Streep and Jones are fantastic, as is the surprisingly serious Carell (who for once isn't playing the manic funnyman). But once Arnold and Kay head back out into the charming coastal town of Hope Springs, things swing from the humorous (like Kay's tragicomic attempt at fulfilling a sexual fantasy at a movie theater) to the cliched (Kay runs away from Arnold to go drink at a local bar). Although it's not the perfect cinematic revelation you'd hope to see from Streep and Jones, Hope Springs is a tender look at what it takes to really fight for a floundering marriage.

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