Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts come together for a romantic comedy about how the hard knocks from today’s recession inspire one everyday guy to undergo a personal reinvention. (
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It’s been quite a few years since we’ve seen a vehicle for a pair of Oscar winners — Hollywood prom king and queen Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts — as disarmingly modest as “Larry Crowne,” a romantic comedy about a newly downsized cook and the unhappily married community college teacher who changes his life.
I really wasn’t expecting much from Hanks’ belated second feature as a director — after 1996’s “That Thing You Do!” And the fact that he wrote the script in collaboration with Nia Vardalos (Hanks and his wife produced her lucrative “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) did not inspire huge confidence going in.
While this Capra-esque fable certainly has its schmaltzy aspects, it does lightly engage social issues that star-driven Hollywood movies generally go to great lengths to avoid — i.e., the Great Recession — and in ways that reflect more of a recognizable reality than we’re used to seeing on the screen.
Hanks has the title role, as a 20-year Navy veteran who’s stunned when he’s abruptly sent packing by the Southern California superstore where he’s long been the employee of the month.
The legal excuse offered is that because Larry doesn’t have a college degree, he can’t advance further in the company. Another guy might sue for age discrimination. But the divorced Larry sucks it up, abandons his over-mortgaged house, replaces his gas-guzzling SUV with a used motor scooter he buys from a neighbor (Cedric the Entertainer) and goes back to school.
The scooter attracts the interest of a hot young student (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Interested on a strictly platonic level, she recruits him for a group of riders, decorates his new apartment and updates his wardrobe.
The guileless Larry, who takes a job as a short-order cook, becomes intrigued by his sexy public-speaking teacher, who is going through her own midlife crisis.
Married to an unemployed Internet porn addict (Bryan Cranston), she’s been showing up with hangovers for the 8 a.m. class with Hanks.
Even in “Charlie Wilson’s War” — in which Roberts had a glorified supporting role — it was clear she had terrific chemistry with Hanks. This is much rarer than you’d think in contemporary Hollywood movies, and something that shouldn’t be undervalued.
Hanks may not be the flashiest director, but he has a far better idea of how to stage a scene than many helmers working today (see “Bad Teacher,” or, better, don’t).
“Larry Crowne” isn’t for anyone looking for edgy entertainment, or with a low tolerance for the comic stylings of George Takei (hilarious as an economics professor) or Wilmer Valderrama (as the hot chick’s boyfriend).
But if you’re looking for a movie you can take your parents or young children to without fear of embarrassment or the need for endless explanations, this is the one.
lou.lumenick@nypost.com