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No Crowne-ing Glory For Larry
Larry Crowne Movie Review
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When I first got my pass to the Larry Crowne screening, I knew what movie it was going to be before even opening the envelope. Having seen the Universal logo on the return address and knowing all too well that this Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts Vespa-powered comedy was the studio’s summer box office bait for the month of June, and would no doubt continue its downward slide from the supercharged Fast Five to the stupid-charged Bridesmaids to Larry Crowne, a romantic comedy drama so disposable it doesn’t even come with a tag line.
So when I opened the envelope and saw Tom and Julia grinning goofily back at me from aboard their little scooter I honestly didn’t know if I could take another two hours of Miss Roberts in extreme close-up. It is the face that launched a 1000 trips to the popcorn stand, but has strangely fascinated otherwise level headed directors from Gary Marshall to Steven Soderbergh, to Tom Hanks who has no one but himself to blame here, having pulled off the unfortunate hat trick of writing, directing and starring in Larry Crowne.
Hanks plays the titular Larry, a recently downsized middle manager for a big box chain store. Not knowing what to do with himself after half a lifetime spent leading in the military and then in the corporate world, Larry decides to continue his education at a local college where he takes up with some other semi-downtrodden characters whom good fortune has overlooked. In between public speaking classes he is soon lost in the bewitching, slightly Karen Black-like gaze of his professor Mercedes Tainot (Roberts). Of course, Tainot too is suffering slightly from a misplaced mojo and is going through a mid-life crisis herself. Hey, anyone who claims to be happy nowadays either hasn’t been reading the news or sold their Maddoff stock in November, rather than December of 2008.
Meanwhile, back in Larry-town, you don’t need a Magic 8 Ball to guess what happens next (hint: it ain’t Steel Magnolias) but you might need an 8 Ball of another sort to stay awake through what passes for drama in this tempest in an herbal tea pot. Which is too bad considering the truer to life movie that could have been made about a the struggle of a lifelong breadwinner who is cast out like a bag of day old crusts, but somehow must get out of bed and figure a way to make it through another day without driving into the oncoming lane on the freeway.
But that’s another picture for another time, hopefully starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock and that is the screening pass I can’t wait to open. Instead, summer audiences looking for a little drama in-between their super hero blockbusters will have to make do with “Larry” the thorn in Hanks’ otherwise impeccable Hollywood crown.