Customer Reviews

Larry Crowne [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

"I was downsized, I'm here to make sure that never happens again." After thinking he will receive his 9th employee of the month award, Larry (Hanks) is fired because he never went to college. After talking to his neighbor he decides to enroll and change his life. Going in I was thinking, Tom Hanks is in this...this will be good. After watching it I have to say it was even better then I expected it to be. Besides the obvious great acting watching a 50 year old man start his life over is pretty inspiring to watch. This is not an Oscar worthy movie, but this is the type of movie you can watch over and over again. Every now and then I really like watching the light hearted type movies that are just fun and stress free to watch. This is a perfect example of that. Overall, a must see movie that will leave you feeling good after you are done. I give it an A.

*Also try - Eat, Pray, Love & Everything Must Go

I see a lot of reviews that aren't positive and mention that this movie isn't funny. I think it might be because Hollywood decided to market this movie as something it wasn't. It's not a romantic comedy. It is, however, a very good movie about people who aren't 25 or even 35, and how they realize they don't have to be stuck in a situation that isn't good, just because of their age. Tom Hanks does a great job as "Lance" and Julia Roberts and he have real chemistry on screen. This movie has no explosions, no fast cars, no half-naked women. What it does have is good acting and an interesting and entertaining story. Above all, it demonstrates that no matter your age, we are all still trying to figure life out.

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 have been a bit costly, but the value comes in the DVD version now that it's available. And of course quite fun for Hanks and Roberts fans.
Try an added reminisctic romp through Mystic Pizza (1988), best viewed in a hotel room in Mystic, Connecticut--love that Roberts.

Larry Crowne, directed by Tom Hanks, from a screenplay by Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) is not a deep movie, which is disappointing because it could have been. But that said, Hanks and Vardalos get a lot of the important stuff right and as a result Larry Crowne hits home in a lot of ways. The issues it touches on - job loss, divorce, worry about losing your house, having to start your life all over again both career-wise and romantically - are things that will connect and resonate with a lot of people these days.

The title character, Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) is a likeable guy who works hard at his job as a "team leader" at the local U-Mart where he's worked every day since doing 20 years in the Navy right out of high school. He enjoys his job, likes his co-workers who like him in return, and has been voted Employee-of-the-Month multiple times. And so it comes as a complete shock when he's summoned by the management who tell him that they're letting him go because he doesn't have a college degree. Which is disastrous news for Larry as his house is underwater mortgage-wise and finding a new job is proving nigh impossible. Encouraged by his next-door neighbor Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer), who's been running a perpetual yard-sale on his front lawn for the last ten years, Larry decides to go to the local college and get a degree that will, in Lamar's words "make you fire-proof!" One of the courses he ends up taking is a public-speaking course taught by Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts), a teacher who's suffering from burn-out in her job and disenchantment with her marriage. Predictably, and yet without succumbing to easy cliche, a cautious spark of romance begins to kindle between them as each begins to move beyond their set-backs and disappointments and towards re-starting their lives.

There are a number of key scenes where the film really strikes a resonating chord with what a lot of people have either been through or going through in recent years. The early scene where Larry is being fired is priceless where the managers use convoluted corporate-speak language to make it sound like they're doing Larry a favor by firing him. Another scene is where Larry is at the bank trying to talk to them about his underwater mortgage and the same thing happens as they talk him into doing whatever he can to continue making payments even though there's no way he can sell the house or keep up with the payments, again using contorted bank-speak to make it sound like they're acting in his interests and not their own.

The supporting cast is excellent and really helps keep things interesting with stand-out performances by Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Talia, a hurricane-on-wheels of irrepressible perkiness who takes charge of giving Larry a new look as well as a new set of friends, and manages to do a feng-shui makeover of his house in the process; Wilmer Valderamma as Del, Talia's frequently glowering and much put-upon boyfriend; Malcolm Barrett as Dave Mack, a student in the public speaking class who, against type, turns out to be a major Trekkie; and George Takei has a delightfully dry comic turn as the serenely self-important Dr. Matsutani who teaches Larry's Economics 101 class. And Cedric the Entertainer does another grand scene-stealing turn as Lamar, who lives to haggle with people at his never-ending yard sale.

And in the why-is-that-face-or-voice-familiar? category: Grace Gummer who plays Natalie, one of Larry's fellow students, is in real-life the daughter of Meryl Streep, to whom she bears a striking resemblance; Rita Wilson, who plays the let-me-not-help-you bank rep Wilma Gammelgaard, is Tom Hanks' wife in real life; and Nia Vardalos supplies the voice of the annoying Map Genie GPS system in Mercedes' car.

On the somewhat minus side however, Bryan Cranston, who was brilliant in TV's Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad, doesn't seem to quite hit the mark as Mercedes' shiftless porn-addicted husband, Dean. And Pam Grier is largely wasted in her role as Frances, Mercedes' friend and fellow teacher.

The one real drawback to Larry Crowne is that it never digs very deep, particularly on the emotional level, in spite of all the stressful life-changing events Larry and Mercedes are facing. Hanks' Larry, for example, _never_ gets angry, in spite of his being fired for inane reasons, having to face losing his house, etc. Neither does Roberts' Mercedes, no matter how much her husband lets her down or insults her. Annoyed or peeved is about as far as they go. Hanks and Vardalos, as director and writers, could have gone for more, given the things Larry and Mercedes must deal with in their personal lives, but they just keep things fairly light. Which is not bad exactly, as the film is enjoyable. But in the end, you're left with the feeling that they could have gone for more.

Again, while Larry Crowne is not a terribly deep film, it does connect in a lot of ways, and I think a lot of people will relate to it. Recommended for anyone who wants to find something whimsically upbeat and hopeful about dealing with the things life can throw at you these days.

Tom Hanks stars a Larry Crowne, a happy, friendly, hard worker at a Target-like store who gets laid off because he never went to college. He enrolls in a community college, makes friends with a lot of young students, and is lucky enough to have a speech teacher played by Julia Roberts.

Co-written and directed by Hanks, this movie falls flat. It's good-natured and wholesome enough, but so innocuous and predictable that I fell asleep twice and rewatching it didn't help. From the moment Larry meets his stunningly beautiful teacher (who just happens to want out of a very bad marriage), you know everything is going to turn out happily, but the movie is so slow-moving, it seems to take forever to get to the end. Hanks comes across as an ideal man who likes and is liked by everybody; he plays his character effortlessly and is very good. Roberts plays against type as an unpleasant alcoholic, but you know she's going to be transformed by Larry's sweet Everyman persona. The young students who `help' Larry adjust to college life are pushy and annoying and I never believed that he would befriend them.

Despites Hanks' best efforts, this movie is on the level of a forgettable sit-com.

Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks are together co-starring again for, as far as I know, the second time in their careers. The first, again as far as I know, being Charlie Wilson's War. That film, while wildly inaccurate history apparently, was hilarious and greatly underappreciated. But to back to Larry Crowne.

Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks), with an E as we hear several times, is content in a job as a low-level employee at a generic superstore. Not only is he content, but overjoyed when he is summoned to a meeting with management for what he believes is the announcement of his being named employee of the month for the ninth consecutive time. He is then crushed to find out that he is in fact being fired in an effort to make the job available for someone with the potential for advancement. A potential he doesn't have because he never went to college. Enter Julia Roberts.

Mercedes Tainot (Roberts) is a professor at a local community college teaching courses on, among other things, public speaking. She is jaded, indifferent, and usually under the influence to varying degrees. Her husband is a twice-published novelist who now whiles away his days blogging and posting on message boards while surfing for porn on the internet and while Mercedes knows this, she is beyond caring.

I'll admit that Hanks at his worst is better than many at their best. Johnny Knoxville and Larry the Cable Guy just to name two. But regardless of whatever this film could've been, its writer Nia Vardolos has conceived closer to My Big Fat Geek Life than to the refreshing comedy that spawned the ill-fated TV series. And the conclusion, while visible very early in the film, isn't really thought-out. It simply happens. It's fluff that, without the leads, would've gone completely unnoticed and rightly so.

Despite the fact that most critics loathed this film, I enjoyed it. There was something about the ending that simply didn't rub me the right way. I don't know if it was the writing or the choppy way it was pasted together. Either way, it was an OK ending, but the overall story was enjoyable. I think the topic of the film perfectly captures middle class America in contemporary times and in this job market. The film almost takes a Capra-esque turn but writers Hanks and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) seem to want to make this film their own, which is OK but it would've been better if they had stuck with the path they were going down for the first two-thirds of the movie. Hanks and Roberts have wonderful chemistry (see Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen Edition)) and the cast was stellar -- especially Gugu Mbatha-Raw (J.J. Abrams' failed NBC series "Undercovers") who plays the upbeat Talia. In the end, this film is good enough to rent but I'm sure what displeased most critics was that its optimism as opposed to realism of most films that have to do with a poor job market and unemployment. Although, I thought it was a nice change. Hanks is still extremely likeable and this film is yet more proof to his talent.

I've always enjoyed Tom Hanks in movies he chooses to act in. I was touched by this movie Larry Crowne as I was by "Forrest Gump" but not quite as intensely. Hanks plays Larry, a man who is down on his luck in the same way many people are these days. Life starts getting better when he goes back to school; this leads to some amusing scenes and likeable characters. Cedric the Entertainer is enjoyable as "the neighbor". I liked Julia Roberts in this movie, too - playing a weary, bored middle-aged teacher who becomes a warmed up, more life-loving person because of her association with Larry, despite her initial efforts not to. Some may say this movie's outcome is predictable - nevertheless a FUN movie that I've seen more than once and will probably buy soon.

Simplifying what is actually a well thought-out script ruins the experience this movie might provide. This is no "You've Got Mail" or "Sleepless in Seattle", this is a very realistic movie about the life of today and people who find each other despite or maybe because of the circumstances. Try not to expect a certain kind of movie when you start watching this and you will most likely enjoy it a lot.

It is tragic that people nowadays are so mentally simplified that any deviation from an expected scenario is perceived as "not good". Tom Hanks did try to simplify the tragic parts, but unless you pay attention, you miss the subtle acting that really expresses perfectly the required mood. But if you are stuffing your face with hotdogs, popcorn and soft drinks, you will miss important tidbits of the narrative. Unfortunately, Hanks and Vardalos decided NOT to repeat every important message fifty times, so that simplified cinema visitors will not see all the required information that is needed to truly enjoy this movie. Buy the BluRay or DVD and see it a few times. You will recognize the beauty that is in this movie. I own it and I love it.

I was ready to write this movie off before even watching it. This movie took advantage of the fact that people are forced to make tough choices in the current economic. Good movie