Three scenes into Larry Crowne internally I was shrieking “Tom Hanks, why have you forsaken me!”. From the beginning there are gaping plot holes in the story line that the audience is expected to ignore: a. this man is being fired from an hourly position at a Walmart-esq mega store because he doesn’t have a college degree, b. this man could afford the home and car on his hourly wage at said mega store previous to being fired, c. this man is unable to get another job in retail, d. this man loves his Chevy Tahoe. At some point, the amount of holes the audience will overlook is exceeded. With a good story, engaging characters, you can get away with almost anything. This film had neither.
The characters are difficult to identify with; you have Larry Crowne (director Tom Hanks) who is too pathetic to hold a job at a mega store, dress himself, get his hair cut, or get to class on time, Mercedes (Julia Roberts) a bitter drunkard turned professor without clear reason for being a bitter drunkard with the exception of her immature sleaze ball of a husband, Dean (Bryan Cranston), and Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) ‘quirky freespirit’ to the point of obnoxious. Of these motley and difficult to rally behind characters no one seems to have any goal or purpose in the movie. Indeed the movie itself is directionless, allegedly taking the audience through Larry Crowne’s first semester of college (ever, as he says repeatedly in the film). News flash, Larry. You’re hardly the first, only, oldest, or most interesting person starting college after two careers.
Throughout the film, Larry is treated like he’s much older than Hanks’ 55 years, or as my friend delicately put it like he’s mentally handicapped. He allows a young woman he’s just met, Talia, to change his wardrobe, hair style, decor (culling his ‘clutter’ from the living room), and his name when she decides, for no apparent reason, to call him Lance instead. Larry’s willingness to let Talia take such control over his life leaves the audience wondering why, a question which is never addressed in the course of the film. Mercedes irrationally answers the question the same way Talia’s boyfriend does, assuming Larry has feelings for the girl, even though there is absolutely no additional evidence to support it. This leads Mercedes to grumble bitterly about how he must have come to college to get a younger woman, an assumption that makes absolutely no sense, and has little reason to effect her life. Mercedes is apparently angry because her husband published two novels and sits at home looking at porn while she’s at work, a situation that’s led her to drink to the point of alcoholism, and be bitter and judgmental towards innocent guys like Larry. Another series of arrows that make little sense.
The romance between Larry and Mercedes is barely identifiable, until she drunkly invites him in for a roll in the hay. A move that has everyone scratching their heads as the audience is led to believe Mercedes thinks Larry’s into and dating young women. There is no build up, there’s an uncomfortable staring contest during a lecture, which apparently means they’re secretly mad for each other. Then when they kiss, and Larry celebrates, the audience isn’t celebrating along because they have nothing invested in this ‘romance’.
As if the meandering Mercedes, Larry, Talia, Talia’s boyfriend love triangle isn’t meandering enough, there is an oddly misplaced scooter gang subplot, a strange focus on Mercede’s poor choice of shoes, and a new thrift store opening, none of which tie into the ‘plot’ in the least.
There is a scene at the end between Larry and Mercedes that shows what a cute and sweet movie this could have been if anyone making it had taken it seriously, but it’s just a glimmer and by the time it rolls around the invested movie goer has given up on the film.
In the end, this movie is memorable only by how much better it should have been and how flat it fell. There are scenes that are painful to watch, unintentionally awkward to the point of being on par with watching the nude scene of Titanic with your mom. The film is allegedly about “finding your reason to live” (based on the official summary from Universal via IMDB.com), yet the main character finds only a bitter, alcoholic communications professor. Either something profound got left on the cutting room floor or someone missed the mark.
To make matters worse, there were shots in this movie that should have been abandoned before the camera rolled. One look at a tap monitor should have had someone saying “This isn’t working.” and moving on to the next set up. But some how the editor managed to a. select said shots and then b. hold on them for torturously long amounts of screen time.
D+ because there were some laughs but there were more scenes taking place in a Tahoe. If you want to see Roberts and Hanks together watch Charlie Wilson’s War, someone actually wrote a script for that one (oscar winner Aaron Sorkin, if you weren’t aware).
Reel Mess 