Skip to main content

Larry Crowne

Starring: Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts
Directed by: Tom Hanks
Screenplay by: Tom Hanks, and Nia Vardalos

     Finally, in a summer full of sequels, prequels, and other action packed films, here's one that's different from the summer trend, but still entertaining.
     Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) is a divorced, sales associate at a major retail store.  The film opens up with him getting fired because he didn't go to college.  So, he goes to community college where he meets some new friends, and is in Speech 217 with Mrs. Tainot (Julia Roberts) as the teacher.  So, if you've seen the trailer, you can already guess what's going to happen next.  Larry's life has fallen apart and now he has to pick up the pieces and move on.  And it will be quite interesting to watch.
     The first thing that should be mentioned is that the romance between Larry and Mrs. Tainot is not the main point of the story.  In fact, it's hardly about their romance, but more about Larry's life and trying to improve it when it's not worked out for him.  Their relationship is only a product of Larry moving on.
      I have difficulty seeing any chemistry between Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.  In some parts of the film, it looks like they feel kind of awkward around each other, setting aside the idea that it is a teacher-student relationship already which would be extremely awkward.  But they don't work together as well as they could.
      Everything in the movie connects to each other in the end, even the small details that don't even seem relevant somehow fit into a larger picture.  I'm used to seeing movies that contain things at the beginning that never show up again, creating plot holes.  Larry Crowne has surprisingly no plot holes.
      Summer is always a great time to see all the movies with action scenes and great special effects.  It's a time when something like Larry Crowne would have a hard time competing with films like Transformers, but it's a much needed break from the high intensity of the action and sci-fi genres.  I must recommend Larry Crowne to anyone who is a fan of Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and anyone who just wants to see something different this summer.
      I'm giving Larry Crowne a B.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don Jon

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, and Tony Danza Directed and written by: Joseph Gordon-Levitt     To the gentlemen with significant others, clear your internet history BEFORE you see this movie with them.     Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has an interesting life.  He cares about only a few things; his apartment, family, church, friends, girls, and porn, especially the porn.  He's nicknamed "Don" because he hooks up with the most attractive girls every weekend.  One night at the club, he meets Barbara (Scarlett Johansson).  She's different from all the other girls Jon hooks up with.  She wants more than just a happy ending one night, meaning Jon's going to have to change his game if he wants to get with her.  And as much as he likes her, he likes his porn even more.  She hates that he watches porn, so something's going to have to give.     Don Jon is ...

The Magnificent Seven

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, and Peter Sarsgaard Directed by: Antoine Fuqua Written by: Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto      Remakes are funny things.  They can go either way.  On one hand, they can be like last year's Mad Max: Fury Road, a film that critics and audiences adore; a film that will live on as a cinematic masterpiece.  Remakes can also go in the direction of this year's rendition of Ben-Hur , one that critics and audiences will likely forget.       The Magnificent Seven some might say is an unnecessary remake.  It's a remake of an original that's based on another film, Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic,  Seven Samurai, in which seven samurai soldiers are hired by a town to keep them safe from raiding bandits.  This time, there are no raiding bandits, and there are not seven sword-wielding soldi...

Jupiter Ascending

Starring: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, and Eddie Redmayne Directed by: Andy and Lana Wachowski Screenplay by: Andy and Lana Wachowski      From the creators of your favorite mind blowing trilogy that you can't stop referencing whenever you can, The Matrix, comes a brand new movie, you might just totally forget about.      Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is a cleaning lady just trying to make a living.  When Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) comes along, everything changes.  She is thrust into a whole new world with a whole new understanding of who she really is.      The earth is part of an industry, led by the Abrasax family (from an entirely different planet of humans), which harvests worlds with intelligent life so humans can live essentially forever.  Balem Abrasax (Eddie Redmayne) is the heir to Earth, which means he can harvest it whenever he wants to.  Caine is aware of what the Abrasax family wants to do so it...