Larry Crowne (2011)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I don't understand the low star count (6.1 as of this review). This is a good movie with a good story, good acting, nice people, and what should have been a breakthrough performance for Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Talia, who lit up the screen with her charisma and effervescent smile. (Maybe it was. She's been busy since this movie.) Tom Hanks, Wilmer Valderrama, Bryan Cranston, Rita Wilson, and Julia Roberts are all excellent too. If you want murder, explosions, criminals, and cruelty look elsewhere. If you want a pleasant, fun, enjoyable movie with likable characters with redeeming qualities with whom you can identify and for whom you can root, this is it.

This is a mediocre, but not unpleasant or irritating movie. The performances are all right, but I have seen these two before doing the same things -- Julia flashing those teeth, Tom furrowing his brow -- and in one case even together (Charlie Wilson's War). I checked the spoilers box because the penalty is so draconian for a disagreement about what is and what is not a spoiler. In fact, no spoiler is possible for this picture whose outcome can be guessed when its cast credits are read. The reason I am concerned about spoiler alerts is that my comment here about this otherwise unremarkable movie involves its ending or the first of its two ending. I say "two endings" because this movie has at its end one of the worst editing failures I have ever seen. Three minutes or so before the actual ending, three minutes of a scene that has "deleted scene" written all over it -- even the actors seem not to know what to do with it -- is a scene where the protagonists, although still able to see each other, are at some distance from each other displaying facial expressions and glances that establish their future. This is where this movie truly ends both because it is a perfect closing scene in and of itself and it is an homage to one of the finest, most delicate, both subtle and obvious final scenes any movie ever had, a movie that was most deservedly the best picture of 1946. Not only is the scene here substantively the same as the one there, but even in each case is a certain restraint appropriate because one of the two enthralled is still married. Both are endings about beginnings and futures.I don't understand how director Hanks who must know the 1946 movie failed to see that his 2011 movie ended exactly as the 1946 movie had, when the characters saw the future.

Tom Hanks enters Rom-Com Zone with 'Larry Crowne'. And he succeeds pretty much in delivering a cute little film, about a man's journey in his 40's. Its a simple film, told simplistically.'Larry Crowne' Synopsis: After losing his job, a middle-aged man reinvents himself by going back to college.'Larry Crowne' isn't consistently crisp or sharp, but it has a good, clean heart & I admired that. Hanks & Nia Vardalos's Screenplay is simple & sweet. But of course, it could've been tighter. Hanks's Direction is well-done. Cinematography & Editing are okay.Performance-Wise: Hanks is charming, as ever. He's Larry Crowne from start to end. Julia Roberts is exceptional. She enacts the frustrated women, who later finds love, with absolute naturalness. Bryan Cranston, as Julia's obnoxious husband, is perfect. Taraji P. Henson & Cedric the Entertainer are passable. Rami Malek is excellent, while Pam Grier sleepwalks through her role.On the whole, 'Larry Crowne' is a decent watch.

Larry Crowne (2011): Dir: Tom Hanks / Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Cedric the Entertainer, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, George Takei: Here is a film with a strong message about the underdog that doesn't quite measure up. It begins with promise where Crowne is downsized from his job. From there he figures that he needs education so he heads to college where he falls in love with his married teacher. This is where the film grinds to a halt. Hanks directed That Thing You Do fifteen years ago and it was a decent effort. Here again he applies his craft to a less successful screenplay. Hanks fares well as the underdog who must pull himself out of his situation. He appears to be a good worker with gentleman qualities who can even influence a local gang. Julia Roberts as his teacher makes a great effort in what amounts to your standard romantic tease. She kicks her husband out when she becomes fed up with his porn surfing but this relationship is handled as a very bad comic after thought. Once she is free then she and Crowne get it on outside her apartment and it is boring as hell. Gugu Mbatha-Raw has a wasted role as a young female who introduces Crowne to her biker friends. Cedric the Entertainer plays his neighbor whose job appears to be to have a constant running yard sale. George Takei is terrific as a teacher whose stern views of cell phones in class becomes apparent when Hanks crosses the line more than once. There is a message here regarding overcoming the odds and succeeding but this film succeeds at nothing other than to take two bankable actors and place them within a tired charade. Score: 4 ½ / 10