The film is given three stars. I won't type out the synopsis of the film just the comments:

There are lots of lovely little touches, many supplied by the eccentric antics of the locals who add colour and comedy to the film. Firth has a permanent look of panic on his face, but he doesn't glower and smoulder here
like he did as Mr. Darcy. His character is too wet for that.

It's Graham, playing a dippy hippy, who doesn't work - she simply comes over as annoying. She's totally upstated by Minnie Driver, who appears on the scene like a rocket just when the plot begins to wear thin and delivers a           deliciously ctty performance. Driver's always in control, even in her underwear (a scene that will make male members of the audience get all hot under the collar). Also worth the entrance price is Oliver Platt as the pompous Mayor of Hope, who wants Colin to paint his portrait.

The film is anothe rlight romantic comedy of the kind we've had plenty of this year. But, in the light of world events, why not lose yourself in something warm and cuddly?

Now rating *** A soft warm wisp of romantic whimsy

Also a comment on Colin and yoga:

We've seen him as the dashing Mr Darcy and watched him woo Bridget Jones, but in Hope Springs we see Colin Firth, 42, as we've never seen him before -  getting to grips with yoga. No doubt his lotus position will arn him even   more swooning female fans. "You can be quietly smug about it," says Colin, who was voted one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, "but I've never really thought I was particularly good looking."

@ Now  2003
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.

When English Artist (Firth) is dumped by his fiancee (Driver) he heads to a small American town to recover. There he divides his time between sketching the locals and having his broken heart healed by eccentric careworker Mandy
(Graham). But just when he thinks he's over the girl he left behind, she shows up at his motel room wanting him back.

Based on a novel by Charles Webb, author of The Graduate, and directed by Brassed Off helmer Herman, Hope Springs isn't without its gently quirky moments. For the most part though, its a limp, unmemorable romcom, enlivened only by spirited turns from Firth and Mary Steenburgen as a feisty motel manager. The film's tendency to wring humour from the so-called eccentricities of the British and small town Americans amuses at first, but soon wears thin.

Although Colin Firth emerges with some dignity intact as the likeably morose artist, the film isn't nearly so kind to its female characters. Heather Graham is appealing, but given to kooky behaviour seen too often in films like this, while Minnie Driver's character is one-dimensional. There's talent to spare here, but its a shame the are left sadled with such mediocre material. One for dedicated Firth admirers only.

Hope springs infernal when it comes to films starring Minnie Driver. All too often she comes across like a spoiled child bawling her eyes out because she's just dropped a lollipop on the floor, a flouncy prima donna kicking up a fuss upon learning that she can't have the restaurant table she wants. How odd, then, that her latest role is in a romantic comedy, a piece of miscasting on a par with asking Daniella Westbrook to play Celia Johnson's part in a remake of Brief Encounter.

Prima donna: Minnie Driver in Hope Springs

Hope Springs, directed by Marc Herman, is based on a novel by Charles Webb, writer of The Graduate, and stars Colin Firth as Colin Ware, an artist who flees England to go to Hope, Vermont, after he learns that his fiancee, Vera  (Driver), is going to marry someone else. O lucky man, one might think, but he takes it all very badly and finds solace in drawing pictures of the local townsfolk.

Their eccentricity extends to their high regard for his sketches, which, like all sketches in the movies, are comically poor.

Ware, though emotionally constipated, finds that he is doted upon by Mandy, a "trained care-giver" played by Heather Graham. She likes her whisky, drives pell-mell through the local streets, and drops her clothes off within a day of meeting him. Not surprisingly, he begins to feel better. Then Vera rolls into town, turning her nose up at everybody and everything. Ware is meant to be torn between the two women, but Driver pouts and preens so      melodramatically, it's hard to see why he was so upset at losing her in the first place.It's not much of a plot, and in many ways this is not much of a film. 

The characterisation is as skimpy as Vera's dresses, and the clunky soundtrack features a shockingly bad cover version of 10cc's I'm Not in Love.  Some of the early scenes, especially those showing Ware freshly arrived in       New England, may remind us of Brassed Off, Herman's superb film about ex-miners in the throes of social and mental breakdown. Such darkness is fleeting.And yet, despite everything, the film flickers by painlessly enough. 

Perhaps it's Ashley Rowe's russet photography; perhaps it's Colin Firth's pleasing drollery; maybe it's just the lovely summershine we've been enjoying these last few weeks - but Hope Springs is by no means as unwatchable as you 
might expect.

FIRTH IS agreeably maudlin as Colin, a British illustrator who leaves the country after being dumped by his fiancée Vera (Driver) to live in a run-down hotel in Hope, a small town in Vermont. He slowly begins to rebuild his life and attracts the attentions of the lusty nurse Mandy (Graham). Then, out of the blue, Vera turns up. The first segment of the film is engagingly downbeat, but midway it becomes more of a standard romantic comedy. David Willoughby On general release (Rating: 2/5) 

Actually I won't give the review because its not good! But the start of the article is - or so I thought. 'I've hated Colin Firth for many years. My last three girlfriends - and now my wife - have all been totally in love with him. And frankly, I'm so sick of it that I've decided I want to be him.

But not the Colin Firth who appears in Hope Springs, a romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor funny.          Those clever people at Touchstone Pictures were quite right to spot Mr Firth's potential as a heartthrob male lead.
Trust me, I know from painful personal experience that women fancy this guy far more than they do Hugh Grant.     Apart from Colin's unreasonable good looks, its the voice that kills 'em. Deep, resonant and impeccable... but also devoid of all pomposity.  As his legendary turn as Darcy in TV's classic Pride and Prejudice series amply       demonstrated, Firth has the added advantage of being a superb actor. Mark my words, given the right film this British superstar in-the-making is going to take Hollywood by storm.