March 11, 2024
Erlingsson unspools in her charming debut an endearing romance between a down-on-her-luck make up artist and the actor who once got her fired. After Adanne Stewart’s mother dies of kidney failure, she takes a temporary job working on a local film set in her hometown of Hope Springs, Ala. She hopes to earn enough money to stay afloat for the next few months, but her enthusiasm sours when she learns she’ll be working with John Pope, the charismatic actor who unwittingly got her kicked off a movie set in Los Angeles three years before. John has turned over a new leaf after recommitting to God and getting sober two years ago, and as the two spend time together, they begin to envision a shared future. For his part, John learns about Adanne’s Nigerian ancestry and becomes enamored with her charitable, devout nature, even as she struggles to fully open her heart to the former bad boy. The chemistry between the two leaps off the page, and the textured backdrop of Hope Springs balances out one or two less-developed plotlines (little information is given about John’s movie, for example). This promises more good things to come from Erlingsson.