Larry Crowne (***)
Directed by: Tom Hanks
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P.
Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, George Takei, Wilmer Valderrama, Bryan Cranston, Rami
Malek, Rita Wilson
Seen: July 29th 2011
*** Out of ****
Larry Crowne (Hanks) is a great guy and a hard worker, which isn’t
enough for his employer, a large mart store, who decides to fire Larry, who’s
been employee of the month 8 times; but the fact that he didn’t finish high
school limits his career opportunities, which is seen as grounds for immediate
dismissal. A 20 year Navy veteran, Larry has no back-up plan, and following his
neighbour Lamar’s (Cedric the Entertainer) advice, he enrols in Community
College to avoid a similar future fate.
Larry realises he needs to cut expenses to keep his home, and he buys scooter
to save on fuel. He meets some scooter drivers led by Dell Gordo (Valderrama)
and his girlfriend Talia (Mbatha-Raw) and joins their “gang”. At college he takes
3 classes, two focussed on in this movie: Speech 217 – The Art of the Informal
Remark, presented by the near-alcoholic Mercedes Tainot (Roberts); and Economy,
presented by the very odd Dr. Matsutani (Takei). In Speech 217 he’s joined by some
odd students looking for what seems to be the ultimate blow-off class, and in
Economy he keeps getting his mobile phone confiscated by Dr. Matsutani. Larry
and Mercedes realise that there is chemistry between them as Mercedes goes
through the process of divorce from her low-life writer-husband Dean
(Cranston).
Larry Crowne is full of small and completely unrealistic elements
(fired from a large mart type store for having no career path; taking a subject
called The Art of the Informal Remark; and more) which are, in the context of
this story, absolutely irrelevant. This little story is about the relationships
between people, regardless of how they end up in the same cook-pot. There is
not a single bit of nastiness in the movie, as Mercedes’ divorce and Larry’s
firing are treated as small stumbling blocks on the way to something else, a
way to advance the story. Larry Crowne is about one man who takes anything in
his stride and makes the most of it, even if it is a massive change to his life
as he’s always known it, and he takes it all with a demeanour of wonder and
exploration.
It’s good to see Hanks on the big screen again after 2 quiet years. He
makes Larry a lovable guy, an easy protagonist. Julia Roberts in Mercedes
Tainot gives a light performance of someone going through a less-than-light
time (divorce is never easy or funny); with Gugu Mbatha-Raw also weighing in
with a heart-warming little performance as life-coach for Larry. This movie
will not be remembered for much, but it is such a sweet and enjoyable little
story that, regardless of its many flaws and almost directionless ambition, I can’t
help but endorse it to anyone in the mood for a clean bit of entertainment. People
will forget what you say and what you do, but never how you made them feel, and
Larry Crowne definitely makes you feel, even if just for a little while.
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