It’s been a long time since Tom Hanks did anything that really made an audience care. He’s one of those actors who is usually great in whatever he is in, no matter how good or bad the movie is. Lately he has been the victim of boring roles in bland movies. In 2011, he both directed and starred in “Larry Crowne”, which despite some of its flaws is actually a fairly enjoyable movie.
“Larry Crowne” is a movie that many people today can identify with. It begins with Larry Crowne, a super star employee at U-Mart, who gets laid off because he has advanced as far as he can within the company because he lacks any college educational experience. So Larry decides to go back to college where he is a fish out of water. He is quickly befriended by a fellow scooter rider– yes Larry rides a scooter– played by Gugu Mumbatha Raw, a cute college girl who sees a fun project in Larry. As part of his education, Larry enrolls in a speech class taught by Julia Roberts, who has lost her passion for life because she is jaded by her job and her marriage to Bryan Cranston.
As a film, “Larry Crowne” really is nothing special. It’s a pretty typical “back to school” type movie, filled with the stereotypical characters but fortunately, the actors make it watchable. Tom Hanks, who seems to have been in a rut as of late is his usual charming self and seems to be having fun here. His relationship with Julia Roberts is the usual “we clearly dig each other but we can’t because of student/teacher, etc. etc. etc.” stuff but because they’re both great actors it feels less cliche. I’m not usually big on Julia Roberts so that’s about as much praise as I’ve ever given her.
Advertisements for this movie really did it no justice and that may have to do with the fact that Hanks’ movies as of late have more to be desired but “Larry Crowne” gets really close to being one of his better movies in recent memory.
While it’s by no means perfect, “Larry Crowne” is a pleasant movie. It lacks some drama and conflict– everything works out a little too easy in the end. There are some relationships that develop but are never really fleshed out but the performances of Hanks and Roberts are enough to overlook the flaws.
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