Where Hope Grows Review

Where My Hope Grows, Where My Rosemary Grows

I should note right off the bat that, much to my disappointment, nobody within Where Hope Grows utters the titular phrase in an overtly dramatic fashion. Alas, audiences will not get the pleasure of having Kristoffer Polaha state those three immortal words in the middle of an inspirational speech of some sort. Thankfully, even with that bamboozling gaffe, Where Hope Grows does manage to have its charms, even in the face of a script that's, well, let's just say it's got problems, shall we?

Some dreams just don't come true, as anyone with even a modicum of life experience will tell you. And boy howdy, when it comes to life experience, does Calvin Campbell (Kristoffer Polaha) have some of that under his belt. A baseball career that ended in embarrassment has left him, years later, with a life in shambles. All he has to his name is a daughter, Katie (McKaley Miller) and the common cinema affliction known as alcoholism. 

The movie doesn't pull any punches in depicting Calvin as a grade-A asshole in these early sequences, with his dismissive attitude towards his daughter played up to an unintentionally comical degree (at one point, Katie wants to spend some time with her dad, maybe go to a movie....but he's already planning to go golfing with his friends that evening!! Oh that Calvin, you scoundrel!).  It's only when he strikes up a friendship with a grocery store employee named Produce (David DeSanctis) that his life manages to turn around.

There's an amicable attitude in scenes with Produce and Calvin hanging out, such as when they're at the batting cages and Calvin gives Produce some pointers on how to be as a good of a baseball player as he can be. Their moments together are the films best, since there's a sincere charm in seeing a man so drenched in the past (Calvin) be given some clarity from a fellow so driven by optimism (Produce). It helps that their friendship isn't one-sided; Produce isn't around just to drop the occasional axiom of wisdom to Calvin, the two help each other throughout the motion picture.

Chris Dowlings screenplay has a pensive attitude when it comes to their dynamic, though the rest of the movie gets bogged down in some extremely contrived plot developments. Characters have a tendency to just pop up whenever the story requires them to be around, and everything that occurs in the film once the characters arrive at a mini-golf course feels tacked on. The best parts of Where Hope Grows have a relaxed air of gregariousness, and the movies constant insistence of tacking on sequences of clunky "drama" really aren't necessary.