Larry Crowne Review

• 4th Nov 2011

Larry Crowne is possibly the weirdest Hollywood film I’ve seen in a very long time. Starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts this has Hanks back behind the camera for the first time since That Thing you Do also taking part writing credit as well. The film follows Larry Crowne as he is fired from work after years of service for not having a college diploma, having left college early to join the Navy. Larry takes the decision to enroll at college and take some courses and it just happens to be that Roberts’ is the jaded teacher is one of them.

The confusion with this film begins with the trailer which made this look as a straight forward comedy drama involving two of Hollywood’s biggest names. Turns out this is in part a serious comment on the world recession, failing relationships, the aspirations of youth and a Star Treks lover’s dream. Larry works at a DIY superstore and has won employee of the month six months in a row. Called into a meeting he simply assumes that its commendation time again but it turns out it’s the end of the line. Returning home we find a large house he can no longer afford, the wife’s gone and he owns a car big enough to house a small family.

From this comes the decision to return to college and there he meets B’Ella (Taraji P. Henson) who is this moped riding free spirit who renames Larry and then dresses him as well. At the same time we have Mercedes Tainot (Roberts) a lecturer who hates her job and has a husband Dean (Bryan Cranston) who prefers masturbating over women with large breasts. To avoid her misery Roberts’ simply drinks a large amount from the second she gets home.

The fluffy trailer is at this point redundant to be honest as things just get darker and darker for a while when Hanks takes the decision to strategically foreclose on his house. Hanks has talked about this scene and said that it was added into the script late on as the economy continued to deteriorate.  The message from this key scene seems to be saying, forget about the life you once had its gone never to return.  Larry takes the decision to simply let go of his house, the possession that is seen as the most important thing you have and simply go back to renting a small flat. The film now seems to have become a radical political statement about how to cope in the worst recession since the great depression.

Then we have the inevitable romance between the two and by the time it rolls around I was almost drunk from the most insane Hollywood narrative I’ve seen for a very long time. Finally we also get George Takei (yep Sulu from Star Trek) as a hysterical economics teacher Dr. Matsutani. The decision to cast him is as odd as the rest of the film so why question it.

Larry Crowne left me with one question answered that if you want to be happy in middle age make sure you’ve won a massive lottery prize. Larry’s neighbor Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer) has a never-ending lawn sale to having retired after winning the lottery. He is a middle age man and he’s happy, not something you find a great deal of in this film. A truly bizarre film for insane times which might make it a cult item for the future we will just have to wait and see. Hollywood’s attempts to incorporate the recession into stories isn’t really going well, just look at the up-coming Tower Heist. Super-rich actors trying to emote the desperation of normal folk is a hard sell at the best of times and it’s the same with Larry Crowne. Having appeared like a fluffy slice of escapism Larry Crowne drops you on your head into the recession meat grinder and you won’t be the same afterwards that I can say.

Aled Jones