Truth be told we were in a little bit of a lull when it came to finding a new movie to watch; Transformers and The Green Lantern had been seen and Captain America and Cars 2 weren’t quite out yet at the Box Office. So Larry Crowne it was.
Judging by the trailer it had that feeling of The Terminal, which I liked. Tom Hanks is in this movie and he looks like he’s playing another Viktor Navorski character. After watching the movie I was pretty much right, though it wasn’t totally like The Terminal.
Hanks plays the titular character Larry Crowne who is a middle aged man who works in a Walmart-esque store. Unfortunately he gets fired because he’s never been to college, which is of course an excuse by the company to simply make cutbacks.
So yes, this is a movie aimed at the average everyday person living in 2011. The economy is pretty much on a slump right now and this is the kind of movie we want to see to represent it. There have been some other movies that have tried to capture the feeling of average everyday people living in these dark economic times and to be honest none of them have come close. Take The Company Men, a film I could not bring myself to see due to it’s blatant ignorance. I saw the trailer. It made me angry.
The Company Men was clearly aimed at the Americans who are enduring tough times. Those people who are getting let go and cant get enough money together to feed their families. The only thing is instead of relating to its proposed audience, all of the characters are rich, upper class businessmen. Yep I can really relate to Ben Affleck in that movie, what’s that Ben you can’t afford to keep your golf club membership going? My heart bleeds for you, it really does!
Larry Crowne however is about an everyday Joe who has Cedric the Entertainer living next-door to him. Saying that, it’s not a depressing story at all. In fact it’s quite uplifting. Sure it wanders dangerously close to the romcom genre but it’s more than just that.
Julia Roberts plays the love interest; a teacher whose former dreams are disappearing while her marriage is at breaking point. Of course the two meet when Larry returns to college for those apparently needed qualifications. The majority of the movie is a big 'will they, won’t they' thing that only really gets resolved at the very end. I won’t spoil it by giving you the answer, but remember this is an uplifting movie!
Cedric the Entertainer is good in this movie. He lives next-door to Larry and has a permanent yard sale going on. He won on a gameshow meaning he’s got unlimited money while poor Larry struggles to make ends meet. I thought this was pretty good as we all know someone who’s well off, even in these tough times, but it doesn’t stop you from being friends.
George Takei is also in this movie as the eccentric professor of economics. He is hilarious and provides some of the funniest moments of the film. The first thing he does is laugh like some sort of evil genius. It’s odd but funny. He’s definitely a welcome addition to the cast and provides the majority of laugh-out-loud humour in the movie. It's nice to see Star Trek actors getting some work, and not just voicing an overgrown robot and being forced to quote lines from their past.
Cedric and Hank’s exchanges along with George Takei's are funny as is the whole movie in general. It won’t have you holding your sides but it’s a nice feel good movie that probably didn’t get as much recognition as it should have done. It lasted just one week in my cinema; muscled out by the big names once more.
Final Verdict: 3 Stars. A quaint little movie starring Tom Hanks. What’s not to love?
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