Movie reviews: 'Imposter' and 'Hope'

THE IMPOSTER

Three and 1/2 out of four stars

Where: Lagoon

A whole lot stranger than fiction, this documentary tells the story of a dark-skinned French Algerian man who managed to convince members of a distraught Texas family that he was their long-lost blond and blue-eyed teenager. What makes this film so unnerving is that it shows how much of what we consider to be reality is a function of what we want to believe. Eventually the fraud begins to unravel but not before the strange situation takes a final unexpected turn. (Rated R.)

KENNETH TURAN

LOS ANGELES TIMES

HOPE SPRINGS

Three OUT OF FOUR STARS

Sometimes a serviceable story is elevated by a masterstroke of casting. In "Hope Springs," it's two masterstrokes -- Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. They play a couple whose 30 years of togetherness has curdled into deadening routine. Arnold is a grumpy executive whose day revolves around not interacting with his wife, Kay. She wishes to recapture the marriage they once had, but being a timid soul, she hardly knows where to begin. They attend marriage counseling and begin rebuilding. The finale is a jolt of sweet optimism and relief, but it's not so much a happy ending as a new start. (Rated PG-13.)

COLIN COVERT