Star quality

Hope Springs is a comedy drama about a long-term marriage that has effectively stalled, and is one of those films that is only as good as its stars. Luckily, in this instance, the stars are Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. Meryl, we know about. I once had dinner with Meryl, and have talked of little else since, until I realised it got on everybody’s nerves, but have gaily continued nonetheless. She is the greatest film actress of her generation, our generation, any generation. She could play my left shoe, if she put her mind to it. She may even be playing my left shoe right now. How would I know? But Mr Lee Jones? (I don’t feel matey enough to call him by his first name.) He has a face like an old-style leather football that’s been left out in the rain, year after year. He usually plays those remote, taciturn, weathered No Country for Old Men types. But, in this, he is adorable! So cute! I’d bring him home and ravish him, if I didn’t have my own dead marriage to think about. Although, as it simply lies there, we could just step over it, I suppose.

This is directed by David Frankel, who also directed Meryl, with whom I’ve had dinner, in The Devil Wears Prada, which showed she could be wickedly funny as well as moving and substantial. Here, Meryl (who smells lovely, up close) plays Kay, a home-maker who works part-time and is married to Arnold, an accountant. They have been married for 31 years. They live in Omaha. Their children are grown up and have fled the nest. Kay makes Arnold the same breakfast every morning: one egg, sunny side up, and one rasher of bacon.