Movie Review—Larry Crowne

Movie Review—Larry Crowne

Directed by: Tom Hanks (also co-writer with Nia Vardalos)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Cedric the Entertainer

Rating:

Okay, But, Could Have Waited for Cable (3 popcorn boxes out of 5)

This month’s review belongs to the recently released Larry Crowne.

A comedy romance about changing lives in today’s questionable times.

The movies begins with Larry Crowne, played by Tom Hanks, a dedicated and motivated retail salesman, is called into see the upper management. This meeting is not for his 10^th employee of the month award, but a meeting to let him know that his education or lack thereof, is insufficient for advancement. A past divorce and loss of employment lead Larry into the college world. While taking a speech class, taught by Mercedes Tainot, portrayed by Julia Roberts, he is making new beginnings and new friends. Mercedes swamped by a sad marriage and poorly attended classes, is seemingly uninterested in repairing either situation. While Larry gets advice and guidance from his neighbor and garage sale entrepreneur, Lamar, depicted by Cedric the Entertainer, on his life’s  and the economy’s poor future, he takes up a scooter to save gas money. A friend from his economic class, Talia, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, takes on Larry as a project and remakes him, from his hair and clothes to his home. Thus, the journey begins and he seeks education to make him more valuable in today’s workplace while facing the everyday changes life brings.

It should have been a feel good movie with romance and comedy popping off the screen. With Hanks and Roberts filling the screen, the chemistry should have been inspiring, but it fell very flat and was not enjoyable. The dialogue dragged and the plot was uninteresting. Julia’s character was monotonously unhappy leading to a boring portrayal. The best scene was when she was drunk, seeming to a nicer person, more able to see all of Larry’s charm. She is just suffering through life instead of making changes. The character of Talia is the most engaging, and makes you just want to see what she is going to do to Larry next. Some of the best scenes are the haggling over lawn sales with Cedric the Entertainer. Larry is just a nice guy, likeable and going forward in a bad situation, but Hanks played him very plain and as a man just rolling with the punches and letting life happen. As director and co-writer, he missed on several levels, as some characters are underplayed and the chemistry was not there between the stars, and certainly not manufactured to improvement. Mildly enjoyable in bits and pieces.