AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
As I mentioned in my review of Bad Teacher, there’s no shortage of inspiring movies about education. Usually, these movies center upon a teacher who, through hard work and dedication, makes a lasting difference in the lives of students and brings tears to the moviegoer’s eyes. Larry Crowne, on the other hand, is more about student than teacher. Unfortunately, when this film tries to inspire it undercuts the charm of its story and characters.
Larry Crowne stars Tom Hanks as the title character, a middle aged man who is forced to start over when he is fired from his team leader position at a big box store. Larry went straight from high school to a twenty-year career as a cook in the Navy and loses his job due to his lack of a higher education. So, trying to make himself “fireproof,” he begins classes at the local community college starting with an intro to economics class and “The Art of Informal Remarks,” taught by jaded but talented Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). At school, Larry falls in with a scooter gang lead by spirited Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who shows him the ropes and changes his wardrobe. Meanwhile, Ms. Tainot drinks her way through the day, struggling with her students’ lack of effort and her husband’s overinflated ego. Larry’s earnest eagerness may just get her through the semester. And then some.
The film starts out laying the groundwork for a critique of higher education as the only basis for hiring and promotions. Larry is easily the best employee in the company, but coworkers who majored in beer pong get promoted ahead of him simply because of their diplomas. The meritocracy looks broken. When Larry ends up in the classroom, Ms. Tainot explains that her goal for the semester is to teach the students to care. Some of them, mostly older, nontraditional students obviously care deeply, while others might just be at school to party. These dynamics set up a really interesting premise to explore issues of how people are valued as employees and as individuals. The rest of the story, however, works very little with the ideas that are so beautifully set up in the first act.
While that lack of follow-through was disappointing, the relationships between the characters offer plenty of interesting plot points and funny moments. The friendship between Talia and Larry, who she insists on calling Lance Corona, is endearing and strange. Their friendship is unlikely, but sweetly funny as she initiates him into her scooter gang and he awkwardly shifts between following her and acting as a father figure. Larry’s next door neighbor, Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer), who won $500,000 on Wheel of Fortune and supports himself by running a daily garage sale, offers both sage advice and a plethora of weird haggling scenes. The relationship between Larry and Ms. Tainot is the most uncomfortable and least interesting relationship in the film, but sadly it’s also the most significant to the plot.
Despite all the parts of the movie I really liked, the story falls flat in the third act. The connection between Larry and Ms. Tainot begins to feel forced and by the end of the movie I was far more interested in their stories individually than I was in any romance between the two of them. Further, Larry’s climactic speech at the end of the semester was far from impressive enough to earn him the high praise bestowed on him by both his classmates and Ms. Tainot. For a movie about the value of new beginnings, the ending is pretty pitiful. 3.5/5 stars
Larry Crowne was directed and written by Tom Hanks with Nia Vardalos. It runs 98 minutes and is rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual content.
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