Larry Crowne is a perfect example of a nice movie. There is nothing in this movie that isn't nice. Even at its darkest moments the movie has an optimistic glow that is rare in films these days. Even though it isn't a great movie, and it has its faults, its hard not to like a movie that is this nice.
Tom Hanks plays the titular character Larry Crown, who after a 20 year stint in the navy has become a superstar employee at UMart. He loves his job, has been Employee of the month 9 times and is looked at as a leader. One day Larry is called into a meeting and is told that because he never attended college, he has nothing to offer UMart, and is summarily terminated. The next few minutes of the film take a very dark turn. You can see the pain in his eyes as he makes the long drive home. Like many Americans he is hit hard by these economic times. He is underwater on his mortgage, and because he is now out of work struggles to make his house payments. It is in these early moments that I had flashes of Falling Down, the Michael Douglas classic about a man who goes ballistic when he feels ignored by the world. But this isn't falling down, this is a nice movie about a nice guy who does nice things. Instead of going ballistic, Larry picks himself up, dusts himself off and decides to better himself, by enrolling in community college.
At school he meets a free spirited young girl who rides a scooter, and decides to take Larry under her wing. Also at school he meets Mercedes Tainot, his speech professor. Played by Julia Roberts, she is just as lost as Larry. She hates her job, is disrespected by her husband, and drinks heavily. As you can expect the two characters are drawn to each other, and in the end they will of course end up together.
The movie was also written, and directed by Tom Hanks, and just like his previous directorial effort, That Thing You Do, there is a lot of Hanks' personality in it. You can tell he has a love for the material, and a desire to tell the story well. He does a good job of directing, but the movie is missing some things in the writing department. Despite being well directed many of the interesting characters in the movie are not completely fleshed out. They come, they serve a purpose, but despite being interesting, they are discarded in favor of the romance angle of the primary characters. Julia Roberts, and Tom Hanks are great together, but their isn't any real threat to their relationship. You know they will end up together, there isn't even anything standing in their way, and it's just a matter of time before they do.
The movie is really about learning to accept change. Larry is forced to change, not only is he forced to change he embraces it, and goes with it. He owns the change, and because he accepting of it, and open to it, he grows, becomes a new person. There is a moment in the movie when his past returns, and everyone in the theater wants him to stick it to the guy, he doesn't he has changed, and is of course a nice guy. Even thought the movie is about change, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts just stay the same, doing what they do best, being nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment