Tom Hanks was really smart to cast Tom Hanks in his own movie. Julia Roberts doesn't hurt, either. The two are consummate professionals, superstars in the classic sense. They're always a joy to watch, and their mere presence is capable of elevating even the most insubstantial of films. And that's basically what Larry Crowne is. It's an enjoyable trifle of a film, with a light and fluffy conclusion all mapped out from the beginning. One thing you won't be able to say when it's over is that it was a drag.
Larry Crowne is the sort of overly cheerful person I tend to avoid. A veteran of the military where he served as a cook, he now works at a chain retailer like K-Mart. He's a workaholic. He does everything from sales to aisle clean-ups to being the guy who brings back the errant shopping carts. Employee of the Month? Eight times. Chances of shooting for a ninth are quickly dashed when he's promptly and brutally fired due to his lack of a college degree. Finding a whole new career is hard enough, but trying to start over at middle age is nearly impossible. Determined to make sure something like this never happens again, he enrolls himself in community college, where he gets the easiest ride ever in more than ways than one. To save money, Larry spends what little money he has on a scooter, which is enough to get him initiated into a "motor scooter gang" led by his fashion savior, Talia(Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and her jealous boyfriend, Dell Gordo(a scowling Wilmer Valderrama).
Not that he's got anything to be jealous of. Larry is quickly smitten with his down in the dumps speech teacher, Mercedes(Roberts), who is about a vodka tonic away from a starring role in Bad Teacher 2. Her marriage is miserable thanks to her lazy blogger husband(Bryan Cranston, mostly forgettable), and she feels like teaching isn't making much of an impact. Star Trek's George Takei is a hoot as Larry's finance teacher with an odd sense of humor. Very little of this stuff feels real, and there's a sort of fairy tale quality to it all. That crashes badly against some of the film's heavier themes, although they're so casually glossed over that none of them matter. Larry's recent divorce, his unemployment, and Mercedes' marital woes barely register a blip. Larry Crowne is more invested in making you smile and forgetting all that stuff. That's where Hanks and Roberts shine the most. While these aren't especially challenging roles for either, it's good to see them making simple, enjoyable movies like this again.
I'm convinced that Hanks and his co-writer Nia Vardalos(My Big Fat Greek Wedding
) had their ending in mind from the very beginning, and then crafted a story around that. The reason is none of what leads up to that moment leads up to it in any authentic way. As likable as they are, there's little chemistry between Hanks and Roberts. And it can be argued that the people who most change Larry's life are his bike riding buddies. Larry doesn't have a lot of growing up to do, so his character doesn't have much of an arc. He's just a guy you want to root for no matter what he ends up doing.A tougher weekend couldn't have been chosen for Larry Crowne, having to swim upstream against the might of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. However if you're in for an easygoing comedy with people we all know and love, then you'll get your money's worth with Larry Crowne.
Trav's Tip: Larry Crowne is Tom Hanks' first directorial effort since 1996's That Thing You Do!
It's also his second time starring opposite Julia Roberts, 2007's Charlie Wilson's War
being the first.
