CAST: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Rami Malek, Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Taraji P. Henson, Pam Grier; DIRECTOR & WRITER: Tom Hanks; GENRE: Comedy, Drama; RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes.
Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 3.5
CINEMA Rating: For viewers age 14 and above.
Just-divorced Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) has been Employee of the Month for eight months straight at the local UMart store. But he is the first to go when retrenchment time comes. Reason? He has no college degree. Now jobless and with a mortgaged house, he sells all but the barest necessities through his neighbor Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer) and enrols at the local community college. There he is befriended by a fetching young woman Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who playfully christens him “Lance Corona”, updates his look and his lifestyle to match the new name, and invites him to join their scooter club. In Public Speaking class he meets the teacher Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts), and from then on life becomes one safe and wholesome scooter ride.
The story is good, no doubt about that. But in its telling, the viewer might somehow expect something more gripping, some seismic spurts to lend spice to break the bland succession of events and to heighten the impact of the plot’s positive aspects. But then, although the subject is serious enough to merit a more profound, dramatic treatment, Larry Crowne is still billed as a romance-comedy, so it’s a compromise at best, but not without merits. As far as the script demands, lead stars Hanks and Roberts did their best and came out convincing and credible personae as what you might encounter in a small town that can pretty much exist without the rest of the world encroaching on private lives. You get to view them as Larry Crowne and Mercedes Tainot, stripped of the glamour of their real life Hollywood identities, which makes them real good actors in our eyes.
In its own quiet way Larry Crowne succeeds in giving hope for fresh beginnings to persons nearing the end of their line. Larry is tearful over his retrenchment but it also serves to emphasize his tender nature: he is one hero who rises above misfortune without firing a gun, burning a building or plotting revenge on his oppressors. The only “violence” here is when he smashes his scooter onto a couple of tables displaying cheap garage sale items. Hanks as director and writer (with Nia Vardalos) probably created the Larry character to remind us that gentlemen are a vanishing breed in this day and age. For what male nowadays would have the guts to disengage himself from a woman’s tight embrace and a devouring kiss-hungry mouth, say goodnight politely, and while tickled to high heavens still walk away without looking back? Larry Crowne is also a subtle statement about prejudice against non-college graduates in America, a bias so common it’s been taken for granted.
