Larry Crowne
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bryan Cranston, George Takei, Cedric The Entertainer, Wilmer Valderrama
Director: Tom Hanks
A rom com with Tom Hanks directing and starring and co-written with Julia Roberts may not sound like a hit but Larry Crowne is an absolute surprise.
Hanks plays Larry Crowne, a former Navy man who's working in a WalMart style shop. One day, however, he finds he's a victim of downsizing and it's revealed he was targetted because he had no college education and will never succeed in any company.
So, armed with that information Crowne heads back to enrol in community college - and winds up in a motivational class run by Julia Roberts' disenchanted and disillusioned teacher Mercedes Tainot.
However, Crowne finds a new lease on life - as does Tainot as the two of them rediscover what's important in their lives.
Sure, it sounds sickly and sentimental, but this film from Hanks is actually a lot of fun and an unexpected life affirming pleasure. With a quirky script and some brilliant supporting turns (particularly by Gugu Mbatha-Raw - this girl is heading for big things) it's funny, heart warming and dry.
George Takei enlivens things no end with his stuffily deadpan economics professor and gets the lion's share of the best lines - but Hanks manages to negotiate a couple of lulls in the proceedings and offers up something pleasant and thoroughly entertaining in this small nicely polished film.
