Larry Crowne
2011
**
Director: Tom Hanks
Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Pam Grier, Rita Wilson, George Takei, Grace Gummer
Larry Crowne, a valued and enthusiastic U-mart store employee, is let go, allegedly for not having a college degree. With work hard to come by, this divorced ex-Navy cook enrolls in community college. Tom Hanks' second directorial work, which he co-scripted with Nia Vardalos of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, paints a realistically grim picture of the post-2008 economy. The amiable hero not only loses his job but also his home, and there is no easy way out. It's all fine and well, but this is as far as this bland romantically flavoured comedy comes to dealing with real-life people with real-life issues. The characters are sketched with broad strokes. Larry is a complete cipher who doesn't know what he wants, his teacher is an unhappily married semi-alcoholic who either mopes or beams, her porn surfing husband is a soulless plot obstacle, and Larry's moped-driving fellow students seem like aliens from a different planet. The budding romance between Hanks and Roberts remains tastefully asexual and inoffensive. The film occupied me for 90 minutes, but left no impression whatsoever.
