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Stars Bring 'Hope'

Annette Bening and Bill Nighy are tremendous actors and screen presences who clearly care about the characters they play. They operate in lead and supporting capacities, which demonstrates a care and concern for their characters and not an ego-driven emphasis on the size of the role. Unfortunately, their immense strength can't rise above the flat screenplay for "Hope Gap," which serves as an acting showcase for the two performers while simply having them go through the motions.

Grace (Bening) and Edward (Nighy) live comfortably along the English coast. Their son, Jamie (Josh O'Connor) returns home at the behest of his father, and it quickly becomes clear that Edward had an agenda for getting Jamie home. Edwards tells his son he plans to leave Grace because he has fallen for a parent of one of his students. Jamie is baffled by his father's decision, but it doesn't hold a candle to Grace's shock.

Edward decides to tell Grace he is leaving just ahead of their 29^th wedding anniversary. At first, she doesn't take him seriously, but Edward has clearly left their marriage before physically leaving their house. Grace is blindsided and devastated. She knows their marriage isn't perfect, but she never expected it to end.

"Hope Gap" spends most of its time keeping Grace and Edward apart but having them put Jamie in the middle. Each parent deems Jamie their liaison to the other. The screenplay, written by William Nicholson, who also directed the film, doesn't spend a lot of time examining Grace and Edward; instead it focuses on them sniping at each other through their son. It's hard to become invested in the main characters when they use their son as a pawn.

It's unfair to pit something as stripped-down and austere as "Hope Gap" against the more accessible "Marriage Story," which followed a couple through the end of their marriage. Noah Baumbach's Oscar-nominated film presented a nuanced look into the complexities of the characters' decisions. "Hope Gap" feels a bit surface-level, refusing to dive deep into Grace and Edward. The movie is adapted from Nicholson's play "The Retreat from Moscow" and it can't really escape feeling like a filmed play.

Bening plays Grace a bit broad, with a wavering English accent, but channels her hurt and confusion effectively because Bening is always able to find empathy in her characters. Nighy can be overshadowed by Bening in some scenes, but his characterization of Edward as withdrawn hints at his struggle to make his decision, even if he is framed as the villain of the movie.

When a movie like "Hope Gap" is so centered on characters, it must give us a reason to be invested in them, no matter their behavior. "Hope Gap," despite the best efforts of the cast, comes up a bit too short.