| Larry Crowne |
| Written by Nick West | |||
| Thursday, 07 July 2011 03:00 | |||
 Larry Crowne is the second directorial effort from mega-star Tom Hanks. His last big screen flick was the 1996 movie That Thing You Do! Which was an intelligent and warm film as well as a critical hit. Here, Hanks directs, stars and shares a screen writing credit with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). So, does Larry Crowne deliver the goods? Crowne starts with Hanks as the super-likable Larry. He works his ass off in a grocery store as a manager. Some corporate shills lay him off due to the fact that he never went to college. The first five minutes of the film are a perfect set up. We like Larry, we're a little bummed that a nice dude is getting fired and we begin to root for the little guy. It turns out Larry is screwed on his mortgage too. No job and trying to save the house. Sounds like a movie made for our times. Larry lives alone. There are signs and dialogue hints of a wife .What ever happened to her, divorced or deceased, we aren't sure. We meet Larry's neighbors Lamar and B'Ella (Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson) who fill Spike Lee's "Magical-Negro" roles. Cedric is funny while Henson completely overplays her character. They give Larry the idea to go back to college. Where he gets the money to afford tuition we are never told. After Larry registers for college, the film begins to meander along as if it has all the time in the world. Larry meets person after person who are just too fucking nice and completely one-dimensional. Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is a younger gal who adopts Larry as her pet-project. She gives him clothes, a new haircut and a feng-shui living room. Her motivations for this are mysterious to the audience—and not on purpose. She's black and has answers—another magical negro. Talia's boyfriend is played by Wilmer Valderrama (That 70's Show). Literary professionalism aside, I want to punch this guy in the throat. His very presence seems to insult all of mankind. Why is this uncharismatic and un-funny person infiltrating our movie screens? Make it stop. So, Julia Roberts shows up, seemingly aping Diaz's recent Bad Teacher. Of course she couldn't really be, but it is weird that the roles are so similar. Roberts plays Mercedes Tainot. She's a teacher at the college and she's having issues with her husband Dean (Bryan Cranston). Personally I had more sympathy for his character. He likes to look at girls in swimsuits and he blogs (apparently making money) but those things are not good enough for her standards as a community college speech teacher. What the fuck? Guess what? Roberts also has a black friend: another teacher at the college played by Pam Grier. This movie has amazingly found places for four magical-negroes. (Let's hope that's the last time I ever have to type the word "Negro.") Sweet Jesus! Spike Lee is going to have an aneurysm if he ever sees this movie. Larry Crowne becomes an exercise in one baffling choice after another. A montage of scooter riding goes on way too long. Crowne and Dean are the only interesting characters. Mercedes is a bitch with no redeeming qualities besides being a cute drunk. Valderrama does something? Larry gets handed a job. Somehow we never see him lacking for money. He has women falling over him and he's got food on his table. Where's the problem? Larry Crowne, has no real conflict. Halfway through the movie I found myself wondering when something was going to happen. I started questioning why certain characters were in the film. Unfortunately, that lead me to wonder why Larry Crowne even existed. What the hell is the theme? Larry is perfect and besides losing his job everything is handed to him. It feels so disconnected. Larry Crowne is like a clueless hipster. It's accidentally existential. I can't believe that someone as intelligent as Tom Hanks couldn't see that his characters had no depth and his plot had no conflict. He must've known. What happened? It's sad really. There are plenty of moments in Larry Crowne that could've been classic comedy bits. Hanks is so damn enjoyable to watch, that never did the movie get to the point of "dear-god-make-it-stop!" However, it came close. Well, I saw the movie in audience of folks over fifty. They all seemed to be laughing. Maybe I'm just too young to understand what it's like to have the world on a platter. Caption : Mbatha-Raw and Hanks
This film is now playing in Times Square at:
AMC Empire 25 234 W. 42nd Street, 10036
1-888-AMC-4FUN
Larry Crowne Rated PG 13 1hr. 39 min.
10:15am, 11:00am, 1:10pm,1:55pm, 4:05pm, 4:40pm, 7:00pm, 7:45pm, 10:45pm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117887/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1583420/ http://www.larrycrowne.com/#/home For more articles like Larry Crowne, please visit the Film Reviews Section of TimesSquare.com
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