Larry Crowne

TedFlicks Rating:

$10.00 ticket on a scale of $0 to $13.50.

UNRELENTINGLY FEELGOOD

The headline was suggested by your critic’s screening guest, the amateur movie critic who makes a tad more money as a doctor of medicine than as a critic.  Make no mistake, “Larry Crowne,” the latest vehicle for Tom Hanks (who also directed it and gets a screenwriter credit) and Julia Roberts is a classic feel-good movie in the spirit of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and it will probably resonate with recession-battered auds, especially adults who can scrape together the ticket money — or wait for it on cable TV.

That is not to say that “Larry Crowne” is as perfect as Capra’s masterpiece (which was a bomb until Capra let the copyright lapse and TV stations started showing it at Christmas time for free — oh, the power of broadcast TV).  It’s not.  It features a ton of predictability, especially in the plot and the jokes, but it has a few more things going for it than against it:  It runs only 99 minutes.  One can enter and leave the theater without a restroom break; the cast fairly ooze charm; the premise (if not the subsequent action) is totally believable; and auds will empathize with the key players.  It invites a suspension of disbelief, without which it could not function.

Now, a word about Hanks.  The doctor maintains that Tom Hanks has never appeared in a role where he was not the sympathetic nice guy.  Your critic respectfully disagrees.  Hanks appeared in the title role of  ”Charlie Wilson’s War” and as the lead in “Saving Private Ryan,” a picture where his Capt. John H. Miller commits at least one or two war crimes, despite being a nice guy.

Here’s what happens in “Larry Crowne.”  Hanks is set up in the opening reel as the good guy.  He arrives at work at a big box store and in the parking lot picks up litter and disposes of it before punching in.  He is unfailingly supportive of co-workers.  He has been employee of the month nine times, and customers love him.  He is a one-man cheerleader squad.

He gets fired because he has never matriculated at college — this despite more than a dozen years with the store and an impeccable record.  The Joes firing him come off like a Greek chorus created by Mel Brooks, or the General Products guys from Howard Teichmann’s “The Solid Gold Cadillac.”

Larry goes through the predictable stages — disbelief, depression, action, and finally, unable to find a new job, education.  He enrolls in the local community college and gets some advice from the Dean of Student Services (Dale Dye who also appeared with Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan” back in 1998) on what courses to take.  It doesn’t hurt that Larry is retired from 20 years in the Navy and that the Dean is ex-Coast Guard.

Larry enters instructor Mercedes Tainot’s (Roberts) informal speech class.  It’s an 8 am event.  Tainot (whose name is a running joke), can’t stand the early hour.  She’s hot to cancel the class.  Larry is a bit of a pain at first.  You can figure out the rest, since this is a romantic comedy.

Mercedes is married to a tenured professor with two books to his credit who spends his days looking at porn on the internet.  Mercedes is not crazy about that.  She is also working on an esoteric PhD dissertation, and appears to be a tad resentful that her husband can skate while she has to show up at 8 am to teach class.  Give Roberts credit for one thing:  Her resentment of the husband (Bryan Cranston, another “Saving Private Ryan” vet) is palpable.  Any man who has ever been married will recognize every nuance in her performance as the pissed off wife.  On the plus side, her Mercedes has every reason to be fed up with the husband.  The differences in the couple’s socioeconomic and professional standings are not really explored (as the good doctor pointed out), but your critic expects that auds will let that pass.

Larry proves to be an apt student.  He takes an economics course taught by “Star Trek’s” George Takei (Mr. Sulu) as the egotistical Dr. Matsutani and nails it enough to get out of the underwater mortgage he took on by keeping his house in his divorce.  (In case anyone hasn’t noticed, pic is a stew of pitfalls that have faced a great many Americans the past few years.)  A venerable motor scooter, made to work by neighbor and yard-sale king Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer), whose character is modeled on the late Redd Foxx in TV’s “Sanford and Son,” saves gas money vs. Larry’s SUV.  It also lets him connect with a scooter “gang” of sorts lead by Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who gives him a makeover, new duds, and a new haircut, courtesy of “Charlie Wilson’s War” alumna, Carly Reeves as  Sal.  In other words, Larry becomes as cool as a 55 year old can be while still excelling at school.

Larry, former retail sales person and Navy cook, turns out to be a bit of a star.  He even lands a job as a short order cook in a restaurant owned by a friend (Ian Gomez).  Wow!  Things really work out for him.  This is where the cynical among us may say that nothing ever goes that well for anyone.  Think about it.  The guy lost his job, his house, and went through an expensive divorce.  He is about to sell all his possessions and move into far more modest quarters.  That he got a job as a short order cook means he keeps body and soul together.  Regaining his positive attitude has nothing on the dream sequence in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but at least it moves the plot along.

In addition to the Julia Roberts bad marriage subplot, “Larry Crowne” has yet another.  A seemingly budding romance with Talia goes nowhere, because, after all, pic has to keep its PG-13 rating, and a September – May romance, including a stubble bearded boyfriend in the background would hardly do.  It also works the boy meets girl, boy almost gets girl (but he’s too much of a gent to do so when she’s half in the bag), boy loses girl and then… — well you know the rest– thing.  Talia, who nicknames Larry “Lance”, spills the beans on what a gent he is in a contrived conversation overheard by Mercedes.

The Hollywood ending is totally predictable.  Heck, people who see enough movies could write the lines as they hear the cues.  But pointing that out is what critics are for.  For moviegoers “Larry Crowne” is just to be enjoyed for what it is, a summer feelgood movie vehicle for a couple of bankable stars and their cronies, including one of Tom Hanks’ sons (Chet Hanks) as a pizza delivery guy.  If “Larry Crowne” stinks, it’s only the smell of nepotism.  Hold your nose.

Tech credits are more than adequate.  Kudos to Philippe Rousselot’s lensing and Alan Cody’s cold machete in the cutting room.  Sound recording is fine.  The MPAA’s PG-13 rating is a tad over the top.  Your critic would give it PG.  It’s the kind of pic that Hollywood ground out by the dozens a couple of generations ago but of which one sees little today, thanks to the mania for 3-D, special effects, and unending sequels.  Take the kids.  They’ll love it.  What’s not to love about the Conductor in “The Polar Express?

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Larry Crowne on Netflix