Big Screen Peter: Larry Crowne

 

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis has agreed to use whatever it is you call his writing style to provide some measure of analysis to those folks who still go to a theater to see a movie.

review by Peter Lewis

“Larry Crowne” is the latest effort from Tom Hanks. And since it not only stars Hanks, but was written and directed by him, the blame for the yawn-fest rests solely on his shoulders.

At first glance, the film seems tailor-made to capture the zeitgeist of America. It tells the story of a down on his luck veteran (Crowne) as he seeks to regain sound financial footing.

Though the paragon of an employable man, Crowne is let go for a lack of advanced education. It seems the type of feel good film made for these rough economic times, one that examines the underbelly of the recession, but ends with perfectly packaged hope. And with Julia Roberts starring opposite Hanks as a lost and downtrodden professor, it even offers viewers a chance to witness two of Hollywood’s biggest names making nice with one another.

So what went wrong? How did such promise devolve into such insipid inanities?

First, the film offers no real examination of the hard times. Everything that befalls Larry, from losing his job to selling his home, is rose-tinted. Instead of investing him as a real character, the film employs a series of ridiculous events that completely transforms Larry.

Though conscientious and empathetic throughout, Larry the character is warped beyond repair. How can viewers be expected to attach to a character that, even when times are rough, is handed good fortune left and right? It’s neither believable nor engaging.

Even the lack of reality could be forgiven if there was any real onscreen pizazz. And that’s the truly damning thing about Larry Crowne. Though the world-weary Roberts is pitch-perfect, she’s operating a one-woman show. Hanks attempts to ensure some sort of attachment with tired tropes and easy jokes, but there is no believability, no catch between the pair. So, while viewers may be happy to see such a lovely, bow-tied ending, it’s not worth the pointlessness of the preceding 90 odd minutes.

The story of Larry Crowne should be more than just Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. But even here there is failure. The film is riddled with caricatures of college life. From the free-spirit who inexplicably latches onto Larry to the clueless stoner, much of the film functions as paint-by-numbers filler. These space holders are neither good nor bad. They’re just there, taking up time and space until it’s time for an understated scene imbued with an awkward sexual tension between Roberts and Hanks.

With Larry Crowne the assumption must have been that it was an antidote to the afflictions of America. It was to be the easy to swallow film that offers an overpowering dose of hope as a way to skirt around the realities of the world. Unfortunately, Larry Crowne is a complacent, lazy film.

• Larry Crowneis playing at the Carmike 14 in Fort Smith. Link here for time and ticket info.

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