LARRY CROWNE Review

It's not often that I find myself wishing that a movie were more like a television show. But Tom Hanks' Larry Crowne is a weird, likable, frequently funny little animal that, nonetheless, inspires strange thoughts. It's a romantic comedy starring two of the biggest movie stars of the past 20 years, yet the romantic sparks are few and far between. It's a post-economic meltdown picture in which a long-term employee is let go in a cold and callous manner by a giant corporation, ostensibly only because said employee never attended college. It's an unemployment rib-tickler in which the fired person in question sadly gives up on searching for a job after one week. And it's a movie set, specifically and distinctly, at a community college that's not terribly interested in its setting, which seems ... weird.

The community college setting is what draws comparisons to the U.S. broadcast television series Community, which recently completed its second, more confident season. Community features a lead character who is forced to return to college after his law degree is voided and, thus, his license to practice law is revoked. The show also includes a character (Chevy Chase) who is older than all the other students in the study group and has trouble fitting in.

In effect, Larry Crowne rolls those two characters together, carefully sanding off their edges in the process. Hanks stars in the title role, as a pleasant, genial, middle-aged man who has been happily working at UMart, a big-box retail store, for a period of years. One day he is called into a meeting with four supervisors and summarily fired, ostensibly because he never attended college and therefore has no possibility of advancement within the corporate structure. His termination is handled in a particularly unfriendly, unkind manner, however, which feels very off-putting at the start of the movie, mainly because it feels like it's only a device to make us feel sympathetic toward Larry.

Who, frankly, doesn't need it.

By which I mean, Larry is played by Tom Freakin' Hanks, arguably the most likable, most-beloved American movie star alive today, even after making two of the more risible blockbusters of the past decade. And the first few minutes of the movie have already established that he will be playing a likable, nay, lovable character: he makes working for a giant, soulless corporation look like fun! The younger employees who work under his supervision clearly like and respect him! He's won "Employee of the Month" so many times, other people have lost count! He joined the Navy out of high school, post-Vietnam, and served his country for 20 years! (As a cook, but still!)

So we understand that cutting him loose from his steady employment through no fault of his own is a device. Singling him out for discharge, rather than as part of a general corporate down-sizing, is also a device, as are his dealings with his bank, brief meetings that try to tap into foreclosure fears, but succeed only in giving Hanks' wife Rita Wilson a chance to ham up a faintly amusing cameo.

After one week of searching for work, Larry concludes, based on advice from next-door neighbor (and lottery winner) Cedric the Entertainer, that he must return to college if he is to have any hope of future employment. He does not wish to work again as a cook, because he did that for 20 years and wants to do something else. He has no clear idea what college can offer him, and so, after a brief encounter with the principal of East Valley Community College, he enrolls in speech and economics classes.

Because this very realistic film is ripped straight from real life, his professors are played by Julia Roberts and George Takei.

Upon his arrival, Larry meets Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a British actress with a flawless American accent), a prototypical Manic Pixie Dream Girl who, once she sees him in her Economics class taught by Professor Matsutani (Takei), instantly sets about "fixing" the poor bastard, who, of course, didn't know he needed fixing in the first place. To put the other plot device in play, Larry is instantly smitten by Speech professor Mercedes Tainot (Roberts), who is unhappily married to Dean (Bryan Cranston, from Breaking Bad). Dean is a former professor turned professional writer turned blogger -- who talks about writing "postings" -- but really spends all his time surfing soft-core porn sites. As a result, Mercedes spends most of the film's running time with her famous smile turned upside down.

Directed by Hanks with little of the fizz or pop of his lively directorial debut, That Thing You Do! (1996), Larry Crowne instead bears more of a resemblance to the respectable, dramatic, stately TV shows (From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers) for which Hanks has directed episodes. Larry Crowne definitely has funny moments, and generously allows supporting players to deliver many of the laughs via physical gags, verbal schtick, and wisecracks; George Takei, especially, gets some nice moments. In that respect, it resembles the ensemble cast of Community, only without that show's willingness to play around with expectations about character and its willingness to experiment with form.

The pace too often feels slack, drifting along without any particular purpose in mind, and the plot is hidebound in tradition. The script is credited to Hanks and Nia Vardalos, who has done nothing since My Big Fat Greek Wedding to dislodge the notion that she is a writer of jokes aimed at easy targets and a creator of characters encased by stereotypes.

We never keenly sense any reason for Larry Crowne to attend college, other than to be able to list it on his resume for some job opportunity that he has yet to envision. The romantic feelings between Larry and Mercedes are kept low-key, out of evident respect for the marital arrangement, which is refreshing, yet ensures that the film remains noncommittal about any of the issues it has tentatively raised. (Hanks and Roberts displayed considerably more chemistry while idly flirting in Charlie Wilson's War.) With nothing at stake, there's little to care about. We may laugh with the characters, but that's as far as the emotional involvement goes.

Who is Larry Crowne? He is Tom Hanks, and he would like your money. Please?

Larry Crowne opens wide in the U.S. today. Check local listings for theaters and showtimes.