23 May 2012

Primarily a comedy with light mid-life romance

Larry Crowne `with an E' (Tom Hanks) is dropped from employment at UMart even with his stellar record including 8 employee-of-the-months. He's at midlife, 20 year Navy vet, but has to college degree. No future at UMart. Out!Wilma (Rita Wilson, Hank's real wife) from the bank loan desk suggests life changes due to finances. College classes are the obvious answer and Larry enrolls into a Speech 217 class with Ms Mercades `Mercy' Teinot (Julia Roberts) his teacher. "'Tai-no' not `Tai-NO'" instructs the sour teacher a bit grumpy from living with a porn fanatic. Don't expect a sudden romance on this scene.An unexpected flirtatious delight is student Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw -also HOT in `Bonekickers') who takes Larry under her wing and gets him involved in a scooter gang. This takes form of some Gump-like events. The speech class is quite a mix of 9 other quirky characters including Natalie (Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep's daughter-you can't miss that face).Mercy is called "washboard" by her boob-loving spouse, soon to be discarded. Later viewed in a low-cut dress, Mercy proves she's not flat--she's a Pretty Woman. That leaves a romance available, right? Not so fast.If you were expecting lots of bed scenes, skin, and raucous behavior, you will be disappointed. This will not be a 5-star movie for the under-40s. Older adults, mid-life through Boomers like a romance that has some intellect mixed with emotion, and from that perspective, this romantic comedy works. After all the economy has everyone relating to job loss, low income, loosing a home, reentry into a new job, and here we have a fun, but truthful picture of that struggle in life.Theatre ticket price plus gas and popcorn, may be a bit costly, but the value comes in the DVD version when it's available. And of course quite fun for Hanks and Roberts fans. While waiting try a reminisctic romp through Mystic Pizza (1988), best viewed in a hotel room in Mystic, Connecticut--love that Roberts.

jerrywilson

23 May 2012

I left the theater feeling good about it

I love Tom Hanks and I love his directing style. That Thing You Doremains one of my favorite movies ever and this film, Larry Crowne, hasthe same feel about it, though the subject matter is completelydifferent. I didn't expect too much before watching the movie because of thelukewarm reception by some of the critics. But I have learned not torely too heavily on professional reviewers because I so often disagreewith them. To me, a film is successful if it is satisfying. If there isone word to describe Larry Crowne it is satisfying - in a feel-goodsort of way.This is not Hanks' greatest film, but it doesn't set out to be. Itaccomplishes what Hanks seems to have set out to do. It tells a storyabout a man who, after getting a divorce and then being fired from hisjob, has to cope with reevaluating his life and reshuffling hispriorities. I like the way it didn't revert to the banal going-into-deep-depression and feeling-sorry-for-myself modes. Hanks' charactertakes the next logical step to being fired for not having enougheducation and signs up for college. And he succeeds brilliantly at it. Julia Roberts plays one of his college professors who is strugglingwith burn out and a dysfunctional marriage. She nails the character,Mrs. Tainot, beautifully. But the best supporting character is playedby Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She is gorgeous but in a cute way, not in a runwaymodel way. She plays the free spirited, scooter-riding college friendwho takes over without asking and proceeds to do a make-over on Crowne.It works, though, as Crowne's image is substantially improved by herwardrobe and hair style changes on him.I won't give away the ending, but there are no surprises here. Youwouldn't expect one from a Tom Hanks film. There's nothing cutting edgeabout it either. But despite one or two plot turns that force you tosuspend your disbelief for a fraction of a second (such as actuallygetting fired after years as a successful employee because your bossfeels your lack of education is hurting your potential to be promoted),the film succeeds. There are no cringe moments, no vulgarity (I don'teven think it used its one-allowed, obligatory F-word), and no tediousscenes of theatrical irony. It's just a simple, entertaining, feel-goodmovie that makes you happy. And sometimes, that's what a movie shouldbe.

rugg-1

21 May 2012

disappointing

I am a Tom Hanks fan (Julia Roberts, not so much, but then I don't havethe necessary Y chromosome). So I was ready to like this little film. Ididn't expect much from it, but what I got was less than I expected.Wooden dialogue, unbelievable situations and characters andrelationships, and one the worst-ever representations of teaching andthe classroom environment. I am a teacher, so perhaps I wasparticularly sensitive to the clumsy efforts to show what it is like towork in a classroom. Julia Roberts' character a great teacher whochanges lives for the better? Not really. Try drunk, cynical, angry,disaffected and generally unpleasant and ornery. You would have to bestill blissed out from Pretty Woman to see anything redeeming in her. Afinal consisting of a two minutes' speech on potatoes? I hope not. TheGeorge Takei character was another unbelievable cardboard figure. Thefilm both wants to say something sincere and real about the economicdownturn and wants to entertain us on a very superficial level. Intrying to do both, it fails at both.

rusoviet

20 May 2012

Will no one rid me of this man?

Why does anyone really believe Hanks can act? This soul is so annoyingin his desire to be 'Jimmy Stewart'. When he has a strong script theperformance is decent - his best was Road To Perdition. But the pile ofsewage per his 'politically correct films' (Green Mile, Philadelphia,Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, well you get the drift) is endlesswith his Aaron Copeland 'Theme For The Common Man'.Why bother to watch this film which is actually treatment plantdischarge the 'previews' are saccharine loaded and his 'direction'looks a lot like Scorcese's best.Tom Hanks is the kind of man all real men loath and far too womenthinks walks on water - he's a sap.

Gordon-11

18 May 2012

Disappointingly slow and bland

This film is about a middle aged divorced man who got fired from hisshop assistant job because he had no degree. He goes back to collegefor an education, and gets more than he expected."Larry Crowne" has a down to earth plot that many people can relate to.Coupled with the star power of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, "LarryCrowne" should be a winning formula. However, I find "Larry Crowne"rather slow and bland. There is almost no comedy, which is a surprisegiven the fact that the script writer wrote the wildly funny "The BigFat Greek Wedding". Larry Crowne and Ms Tainot are such differentindividuals in the beginning, I find it hard to believe that they wouldfall for each other. There is little chemistry between them until thevery end of the film. Overall, I find "Larry Crowne" not asentertaining as it could have been.

oceansroar

18 May 2012

Not great, but not horrible either

i love Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts films and had hoped that the twotogether would be awesome, but i was a little disappointed. i cannotexactly put my finger on it, but it felt a little off. Larry (TomHanks) loses his job from a Walmart-type store because he did not go tocollege. It seems far-fetched, but i let it slide. So, what does he do?He goes to college. Who is his teacher? Mercedes Tainot played by JuliaRoberts. So you can fill in the puzzle from there. It is a typicalchick flick, but with a little quirkiness. Unfortunately the quirkinesswas the character Talia, which was a little to strange and never playedout or explained fully. One good point for the film, it was a throwback to a more wholesome time before every filmed had sex and foallanguage in every other scene. i hope both Hanks and Roberts find abetter vehicle for their talent next time.

Bruce

16 May 2012

Mediocre

I went to the movie with my wife, who is a devoted Tom Hanks fan. Shewas entertained by it. Me, I wasn't particularly impressed. Here's whySpoiler alert Tom Hanks plays an ex-Navy cook who is apparentlydivorced and has no kids. His character is a simple, affable man,similar to his signature Forrest Gump. He was laid off/fired form amega-store because he does not have a college education. Basically hegoes back to school to rectify this.At school, he takes a class from the a professor, played by JuliaRoberts (he also takes another class from a maniacal professor playedby George Takai of Star Trek). Julia Roberts recently split from herhusband, who sits at home and writes blogs while looking at porn andcomes across as a complete dolt.The two develop a love interest - somehow. What is very strange aboutthe film is that Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts don't interact much. Whydo they form a relationship, other than he treats her with a modicum ofrespect? Really, this is weird.Much of the film instead revolves around Hank's character and therelationship he has with a much younger female who happens to drive ascooter. She invites him to join a scooter gang, for lack of a betterterm. The scooter gang helps him transform from a somewhat stiff Gumplike character to someone who is comfortable in his own skin.So, really, it's an OK film - a bit of fluff that will have arelatively short run and then head to cable and DVD/Blu-Ray. You maywant to wait until then. Or, it is a good date flick if you're older.

alphagenie

15 May 2012

A gentle, slow-burn comedy with one beautifully played drunk scene.

Basically I agree with Jake III about this film. If people expectbroad, slapstick humour, this is the wrong film for them. I realise I'min the minority here, but a friend and I went to see this film as a wayof ignoring a dull, rainy Friday evening, and we loved this film.What I particularly liked was the way that, after the initial sacking,there was a gentle re-orientation as we are introduced to thecharacters and the situations they find themselves in. Tom Hanksmanages to be funny while still retaining a degree of dignity indefeat. Hanks also made Larry's gradual re-evaluation of his lifeengaging, and it was relief that the film DIDN'T end with a magical winon the lottery, or some other unlikely return to financial security.Julia Roberts' performance reminded me that she can really act and thatshe has a nicely nuanced touch for comedy. The second leads were alsoengaging, though the neighbour with the permanent garage sale seemed tocome from a broader genre. The young actors playing the Afro-Latinocouple made the most of their opportunities. Settings: for once we were spared the sight of middle-to-low earnersliving in improbably luxurious surroundings. The locations had beenwell thought out and according to Tom Hanks' website, Larry's scooterwas the genuine beaten-up article. Maybe the fact that I'm of an age to know a bit about enforced mid-lifechanges helps, but I really liked this movie and think it deserves abetter rating.

wy_n_wa

15 May 2012

offended

Within the first 10 minutes the movie uses the derogatory word retardmultiple times. Tom Hanks is a legend and has always been a favorite ofmine and fortunately he does not use the 'r' word but it is stillOFFENSIVE. As an advocate for the special needs of this world I am verydisturbed that this would happen in a movie with such an admirableactor. But after watching the whole movie that was the only offensivescene. I hope that in the future the director and writer of movies willtake into consideration that the use of derogatory words is offensiveto many and would consider revising the use of that word. Thank you fortaking the time to read this and I hope many others will stand up forthose who cannot.

philipmater

15 May 2012

Bland but engaging

This film is very confusing to recommend. The always affable Tom Hanksis in the film and even was the director but I did not believe a secondof this films implausible events between the main characters. Theyseemed like characters in a television sitcom more than in a movie. Thefilm's plot is bland, safe and is the kind of film that will fill thetheater with senior citizens. This is where it becomes confusing. I didenjoy it more than I did not. The plot about reinventing oneselfcombined with the relatable depiction of the economic struggles ofthese days even though corny, was interesting and serves to feel warmabout Larry, portrayed by the always likable Tom Hanks. Julia Robertsis as annoying as always competently portraying herself as a characteras she always does but her scenes with Hanks gain momentum due to theirchemistry. I understand and cannot say that it is a important movie ora great one or even a decent one but I found myself at times gettingcomfortable with it in a good way.

14 May 2012

Bland, but okay

Larry Crowne (Hanks) has lost his job and his mortgage is under waterand he now has a lot of free time on his hands. What to do? What to Do?He decides to go back to school and start over. This was okay, but we expected more especially when we see big namestars in the mix. Didn't get it. Still it was okay. No constantlanguage, no raunchy sex talk and no stupid or silly goings on. Onemight say it was too bland almost snoozeable. The script was a littlebeyond 1950s. It is watchable only to see how Larry makes out. All the acting performances were fine. Tom Hanks directed this and theeffort seemed to be somewhat tentative, but it was okay. MercedesTainot (Roberts) is a teacher who is tired of teaching and probably oflife itself. Economics teacher, Dr. M (Takei) was a little tooanimated, and almost embarrassing. Lamar (Cedric etc) was okay; he hada perpetual yard sale going on his lawn. Again, look to the script, butall was okay. Two things come out of left field. The finger snapping which allowsLarry to join the Scooter Gang. Don't ask. And, the Scootersthemselves. Larry gets one to save on gas and ends up joining a schoolscooter gang, but the gang is docile. As the scooter gang rides by realbikers at one of their haunts, they get a wave from the bikers. Tameand almost funny. See? That was the comedy in here. I suppose we were all waiting for the love connection between Larry andMercedes. An awkward attempt was made by both and that cooled off likeit never happened until the last scenes where the assumption was theyare hooking up. We didn't care and was glad the movie ended at thatpoint. Chemistry for that kind of action between these two just wasn'tthere. There needs to be a hard and fast rule that says when a man's name isthe title of a movie, the story should be about corporate espionage,spies, cops and robbers or some such. Some recent names come to mindMichael Clayton, Harry Brown, Max Payne. When I first saw the titleLarry Crowne I jumped for joy thinking I was going to see some kind ofthriller. HA! Fooled again.Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes. One F-bomb was heard.

stavrosss

13 May 2012

went home and saw Forrest Gump on DVD..

One of the worst movies i've seen so far this year..me and my friendssuffered throughout the entire movie and regretted for choosing it inthe first place.Tom Hanks' name fooled us to watch the movie believingthat at least it would be a decent movie to watch.Julia Roberts was notup to the task either.We were trying to figure out why on earth thesetwo talented and Oscar winning actors decided to star in such amovie.It looked as if they were two washed up actors who tried to provethat they still ''have it''.I felt sorry for them who made a fool ofthemselves trying to make us laugh with some silly jokes and goofyfaces but failed tragically to do so... we went home and watchedForrest Gump for the fifth time just to regain our respect for TomHanks..

brandonsullivan91

09 May 2012

Slowe with an E

The opening credits of this movie were great! Names fly by as LarryCrowne (Hanks) is picking up garbage, stocking shelves with a smile,and cleaning puke off a mechanical horsey which instantly makes it easyto like the hard-working Crowne. As the credits finish the "powers thatbe" call in Hanks for a talk. The leadership team of the store informsCrowne he doesn't have the schooling for promotion and fire him. It iseasy to relate with the frustration and bewilderment of Crowne as heponders his next step.Sadly the movie bogs down and loses steam. Not a lot happens and ittakes a long time for it to happen. Hanks and Roberts save the moviefrom being painfully slow and move my classification to tolerable.The weirdest part of the movie was Crowne's friendship with the motorbike gang leader Talia. For some random reason Talia adopts Crowne as amissing father figure/lost puppy/charity case thing. It's weirdlyflirtatious, mostly pointless, and never explained. My guess is Taliagave the movie a legitimate way to make-over Crowne from lamedepartment manager to the hip achieve your dreams American dreamCrowne.This is a feel good, romantic comedy that you can skip.

08 May 2012

HANKS COULD DO BETTER

The movie is unbelievable and I don't mean that in a good way. Hanks has worked 20 years at the U-Mart (Movie version of Walmart). He has been employee of the month 8 times and is a hard worker. Now he is being let go because he has no degree and won't be able to advance. Now in some professions I could see that happening, but for a guy who stocks shelves and pushes shopping carts? He also lives in a half million dollar home which is now worth less than the $392,000 he owes on it. (Where are those Walmart applications!) I understand they needed to get him into the school environment, but they could have written a real scenario and one that was funny and tied into the rest of the movie. Tom Hanks downsizes his life and goes back to school. His Speech 217 teacher is a slightly unkempt, bored with life, Julia Roberts. She is equally bored in her marriage to a writer who spends most of his time watching porn on the Internet. (I can't believe there is porn on the Internet!) They split over an unlikely fight. His economics class is taught by a narcissistic Mr. Sulu. His class mates consists of a number of colorful and quirky characters that make the movie more interesting than Mr. Hanks walking around with his polo shirt tucked in. He joins a bike/scooter gang whose initiation requirement is to able to snap your fingers in unison. Larry (known as Lance Corona to his female lead biker group) takes a job as a cook (a job he did in the Navy) at a diner. All the women seem to dig Larry, a middle aged man with a pouch. Some more of Hanks fantasy writing. It is an easy to watch, feel good movie for bad economic times. Not much action or comedy. Drama is a bit weak too. A movie your kids could watch except for Julia Roberts dropping the F-bomb. Tom Hanks needs to stay in front of the camera and not behind it. 5 stars for Hanks as an actor. 2 stars for his writing and direction. F-bomb, no sex, no nudity. Awkward drunken screen kiss.

Lloyd Bayer

04 May 2012

A light-hearted look on mid-life crises.

When Tom Hanks directed his first movie in 1996, it became an instantyet unexpected critical success. "That Thing You Do" not only appealedto the young at heart of the 1990s as well as an older generationsmitten by The Beatles, it was Hanks' first film as writer anddirector. With "Larry Crowne", Hanks makes a comeback while alsoproducing and co-writing with Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of "MyBig fat Greek Wedding".With this movie, Hanks plays another nice-guy, a role he has perfectedever since he won his first Oscar for the likable aids patient in"Philadelphia". As the titled character, he plays an ex navy cook nowemployed as a team-leader in a department store. Larry is the perfectemployee and leads by example, so expects to be 'crowned' employee ofthe month for the ninth time when he is summoned by store management.Instead, he is in for a rude shock. Management has unanimously decidedthat Larry has no chance of career advancement due to his lack ofcollege education. Divorced, middle-aged, out of a job and behind onhis mortgage payments, Larry has no choice but to go back to school.However, attending community college proves to be a turning point inhis life. Opting for economics and communications, Larry is initially afish out of water. This is where he meets Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) andher gang of scooter-bikers led by Dell Gordo (Wilmer Valderrama).Unlike motorcycle outlaws, Talia and her friends prove to be arevelation to Larry and open his eyes to the simplicities of life. Inwalks Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts), Larry's speech andcommunications teacher who is as passionate about teaching as she isabout her down-hill marriage. As they say "better late than never",Larry soon discovers the joys of college life― a time of re-invention,discovery, youthfulness and even the slight case of collegeinfatuation.For a romantic-comedy, this movie is not short of subtle comic momentsincluding one or two scenes that will have you burst into laughter. Youhave to keep in mind that this is Tom Hanks in the lead and not AdamSandler or Ben Stiller, so don't expect to be rolling on the floorgasping for breath. While Hanks does what he does best, there is aslight trace of Forrest Gumpness in his character. Then again, this isHanks in his comfort zone and does not really risk it when puttingLarry in the spotlight. The real chuckles and laughs come from a hugearray of supporting roles. Some of these include Cedric the Entertaineras Larry's neighbor, Rami Malek as a spaced-out classmate, George Takeias the economics professor and Wilmer Valderrama as Talia's suspiciousboyfriend with cameos from Pam Grier and Rita Wilson (Hanks' real-lifewife). Towards the end of the movie, the two women playing theinfluence on Larry's life is Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Julia Roberts. Whilethe former does well as a free-spirited and always optimistic co-ed,Roberts appears a bit underplayed. Perhaps this has to do with the wayher Tainot is penned for the screen. However, as an actress, Robertsstill has her old-school charm and that distinct sparkle in her eyes wehave grown to love about her.At the very worst and depending on your frame of mind while watchingit, this movie can loose its pacing at times, and ends up as a mediocreromantic-comedy, in addition to a few loose ends. On the other hand, ittops with a strong feel-good factor punctuated with an inspirationalsense of achievement — when push comes to shove. Finally, Hanks andVardalos have integrated subtle messages relating to the currentfinancial crises and how middle-class people can reduce its impactshould they be willing to swallow a little bit of pride. As a whole,many people won't find this movie overly enjoyable; but there will be alot like myself, who will find its light-hearted take on mid-lifecrises an entertaining watch.

jillwozhere

04 May 2012

Good for insomniacs

Don't get me wrong... Tom Hanks is great! By far my favourite actor infact, in terms of both versatility and talent. However this movie wasvery dull. I battled to keep my eyes open, especially listening to thespeeches. I'm guessing politicians take that class? I couldn't faultthe acting of any member of the cast and it had a couple of lightslightly amusing moments, but the story line was more boring thanwatching grass grow. I loved the look Larry gave when he was put off.It was a look of heartfelt demoralization and devastation. I hope ifTom reads this review he does not get that same look on his face. SorryTom, but one of my faults is my candid honesty. If it were me I wouldrespect the same.

two1790

03 May 2012

Mixed Feelings

I did enjoy the movie and before reading other reviews I was going torate it much higher. However, I did agree with some of the morenegative reviews. I believe this film was supposed to be taken morelight-hearted and not as a serious romantic blockbuster. I'm not goingto dwell on the positives because yes it was an all around happy film.But as others have pointed out there could have been more research onreality and how things really work. The 2 big issues was the way theschool functioned, and the whole development of Larry Crowne joiningsome silly scooter gang. Without any explanation, I just wish thatHanks would have done more investigating into how college actuallyfunctions and that the idea of a scooter gang is dumb.The last big issue was that you could clearly see from the verybeginning that hanks was going to get roberts. There wasn't a singleproblem or conflict that arised. A simple addition could be that mayberoberts never divorced her husband yet. Why is it that the same nighthanks meets roberts, is also the same night she fought with her husbandand divorced him? Absolutely no drama between hanks and roberts either.Well maybe they were a "match made in heaven", but in reality there'salways going to be disagreements.

jamiemarks-1

02 May 2012

A light enjoyable rom-com, but problems with pacing and not enough romance lets it down slightly.

Tom Hanks one of my most favourite actors in the world and JuliaRoberts a terrific actress who I have always quite like starring in aromantic comedy together, particularly with Hanks writing the scriptand directing it, I felt it was sure to be a winner as the trailer wasgreat. But I was a little bit disappointed though I still highlyenjoyed the film. Larry Crowne hasn't performed all that well at the box office, but tomy mind (though I know it won't be to everyone's) it isn't because thisis a bad film. But rather Hanks has unwisely chose to release this atcompletely the wrong time. With it coming out the same week as thethird Transformers and Harry Potter coming out two weeks later, thatbeing today, most people both kids and adults will be flocking to seethese movies as they are much bigger money earners as they aregenerally much more popular due to books (for HP) and toys/TV series(Transformers). Hanks should have released this at least a monthearlier than Transformers or a month after Harry Potter as I believe itwould have made a bigger impact at the box office.Anyway I treated my father to see this as we follow the character ofLarry Crowne (Tom Hanks) a nice middle-aged man who working for acompany after having been in the Navy is let go of because he didn't goto college, so struggling throughout with paying his rent and such dueto the poor economy he goes back to college to reinvent himself wherehe joins a class consisting of nine students and the teacher teachingthem Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). Throughout we Mercedes strugglewith her life in doing her job and being stuck in a bad marriage withher husband who does nothing all day but look at pornography. Meanwhileshe and Larry start warming to each other, though there chemistrydosen't really blossom until the last twenty minutes of the film. A sub-story involves Larry becoming friends with one of the studentsfrom his economics class who coaxes him into joining a bike gang. Thisis an enjoyable film with a witty script at times and some good laughs,this going to a large part from a background character of the Economicsprofessor Dr. Matsutani (excellently acted by George Takei who playedSulu in the original Star Trek series in the 1960s). All the charactersare likable even though Mercedes does complain often, she has such abad marriage so you can't blame her. And as I said Roberts and Hankshave some nice romantic chemistry towards the end as you see them (andthe other students change as people) and the two main leads make a cutecouple. But Hanks direction of the film is really just too slow thoughit keeps you engaged from the start to end. There is not enough romancebetween Mercedes and Larry until near the end so their romance whilenice dosen't make that big an impact and you don't really emotionallyconnect with them or absolutely root for them to be together. And alsothough funny there weren't enough laugh out loud moments, only mostlychuckles.All the same this was a very decent effort by Hanks and it's harmlesslight entertainment that should entertain for it's length and leave youwith a smile on your face.

mxmlln

02 May 2012

Beware Larry Crowne is not a romance, just a comedic cc adventure.

Again, we are presented with a movie unlike its preview. The onlysimilarity is that LARRY CROWNE is clearly a comedy and I did findmyself giggling during a few scenes. However, the film is actually anadventure story about a man who goes to college for the first time, notthe romance the preview suggests. Is going to community college reallyan adventure, especially while in foreclosure? Not at all, really,resulting in an altogether lackluster film.The story has little or no conflict and we watch as Larry goes to classand makes friends of his new peers. But where are Larry's previousfriends? He simply doesn't have any, just a very close neighbor downthe street to mentor him through his troubles. To complicate matters,he misinterprets signals from his new female best friend, causing amisdirection in plot. How many comedies intentional lead you astray tosurprise you at the end? Likely, zero. All these problems complicatethe viewing experience, but cannot create a semblance of a mainconflict to propel the story. After about 3/4 of the way into the film, Larry and his speech teacherMerci finally start a romance: This is where the preview footagefinally comes together. However, the happy ending cannot recover thedirection-less majority. Still, not a bad job for your first featurefilm, Hanks.

Robert Armstrong

01 May 2012

Zero conflict -- other than a serious discredit to community college instructors.

Comedy authority Stan Freberg said once, and I agree, that humor needsto be based in reality. Unfortunately the reality thatdirector-screenwriter-star Tom Hanks has constructed for himself hereis that convenient target of community college as a collection ofuninterested losers who try the instructors' patience to the extremethat he or she, much like leading-lady prof played by Julia Roberts, isangry, cynical -- yet at the same time apathetic -- and something of atippler. Along comes Tom Hanks as Larry Crowne who, as anewly-unemployed middle-ager among the weeds of youth, somehow(osmosis?) introduces the unique perspective that age, intelligence andlife experience can bring to continuing adult education.As Larry/Hanks struggles with his early attempts in the class, that ofconversational speechmaking, we see Julia Roberts' character roll hereyes upward and refine her growing contempt as the younger folk in theclass give supposedly insubstantial talks such as shopping andcomparing one Star Trek series to another. Well, what should they bedoing instead? In the meantime the instructor herself, as far as theaudience can see, contributes nothing.Under the circumstances these kids are making a valiant, sincereeffort. Okay, the one guy had crib notes written on the palm of hishand.By the way -- has anyone else figured this out -- there is nothingunusual about older adults, intelligent or otherwise, who return toschool and find the real, practical self-enrichment they seek. Thisfalseness of the film's primary concept is an embarrassing display ofhow little Hanks, et al, grasp the everyday realities which, to themovie audience, are dirt-common.I'd forgive any of the wrong turns taken in this film if it were funny.I didn't laugh once.Subplot that Roberts' character's own marriage is deteriorating (gee Iwonder why), other than making her available to LC as a love interest,has, like so many other story elements (the motor scooter "gang," theeternal garage sale next door, waste of George Takei's good characterwork as poor man's John Houseman in Larry's other class -- wasn't Larrysupposed to be taking three classes?) little or no integration withrest of story.Near end of picture Julia's character says to Larry/Hanks "You're agreat student" and he says "You're a great teacher." No she isn't! Thefirst and only time she shows the remotest interest in her job is fiveminutes before the final exam, when she has the students do a mildaerobic exercise to loosen up.It is, rather, the very fact that community college instructors don'tmake much money and don't find intellectual gold at the end of alltheir hard work that we know that they do care. My impression, and I'msure many will agree, is that, if a student gives the slightestindication that he or she is trying to learn, a community collegeinstructor will bend over backwards to give that person an education.Tom Hanks as director is out of touch with human society to a degreeunprecedented since Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut. One can only assume heagreed to this project as part of a deal to let him do something goodnext. Turner and Hooch 2? Will Hooch even return Hanks' phone calls after this?