Larry Crowne 12A - 98 minutes

Larry Crowne - 12 A - 98 minutes 2011


Tom Hanks didn’t go to college. He didn’t get the grades and his parents lacked the money for the Ivy League schools. Like the hero of Larry Crowne, which he co-wrote, directed and plays the title role, Hanks made it the hard way, through graft and hard work.

If anyone has “been there, seen it and bought the T-shirt, it must be Thomas Jeffrey Hanks. A double Oscar winner – Philadelphia in 1993, - a hugely courageous decision given the perception of Aids at the time - and the incomparable Forrest Gump in 1994 - he is a friend of the US President and a recent dinner guest of Queen Elizabeth II. Even his TV productions – usually in association with Steven Spielberg - were enormously successful. With over $8 billion of revenues behind him, expectations run riot when new projects are announced. Larry Crowne was surely going to founder on Hanks’ tsunami of success. And largely, it does.

Hanks however, doesn't disappoint, his goofy charm as powerful as ever, his ability to move us - whether getting fired from his job or rejected by his girlfriend – still unbelievably strong. Hanks is also, and this is often overlooked, very funny. His timing great and his delivery is perfect - the scene where he resets his girlfriend’s satnav, hilarious. In everything that he does, he has surely become the ultimate professional in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Hanks’s good friend and co-star, Julia Roberts. She simply fails to convince either as a teacher disillusioned with her lot or as a wife, frustrated by her husband's constant blogging and endless search for porn. Grumpy, frumpy and boozy is not what Robert is about - and her sudden transformation simply beggars belief. Jennifer Anniston sprang to mind but then perhaps Hanks doesn't know her as well.

The screenplay, it must be said, leaves considerable room for improvement for which co-author, Nia "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" Vardalos must take his share of the blame. Despite some witty repartee with Larry's neighbour, Lamar (delightfully played by Cedric The Entertainer), the story is too full of holes; Larry's invitation to join the scooter gang – the ultimate oxymoron - is as bewildering as the beautiful Talia's (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) interest in an unemployed, middle-aged bachelor.

The movie is ultimately undermined by its inability to decide what it is; old fashioned romcom or a parody thereof. But Hanks has reached a stage in his career where he can do as he chooses and if he wants to exorcise some failure-to-go-to college-demons, nobody is going to mind.
Light-hearted and mildly entertaining. 6/10 DM

July 2011