The Larry Crowne affair

Larry Crowne is saddled with possibly the lamest movie trailer in recent memory. You’ve probably seen it: it’s one of those generic rom-com trailers that reduces the movie to middle-aged boy (Tom Hanks) meets slightly bitchy girl (Julia Roberts).

Yet Larry Crowne is a perfectly likeable (though not very deep) snapshot of modern man (and woman) caught in economically uncertain times. It’s also Tom Hanks’ second directorial effort, after his ‘60s music pastiche, That Thing You Do.

Times have changed since then. Hanks is now a producer, writer (with Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame), as well as director and actor. The setting for Larry Crowne (an unfortunate, non-descriptive title, kind of like Forrest Gump) is community college, where Navy veteran Crowne — recently laid off from his non-management job at a big retail chain — has decided to take courses in business and public speaking. Naturally, Julia Roberts is his teacher, a hard-drinking cynic named Mercedes who thinks her job doesn’t help anybody, while her no-good husband surfs porn all day at home, purportedly doing “research” for his next book.

Got the zeitgeist yet? People contemplating change in their lives, because somebody moved their cheese or they think they can do better.

This would have been a wretched rom-com affair in the hands of, say, Katherine Heigl and Owen Wilson. Instead, it’s got two seasoned actors, a sub-layer of semi-interesting side players, and a script that tries to take on the sub-prime real estate market and male makeovers without being nauseatingly cute.

Who moved his cheese?: Hanks plays the titular character in a rom-com he directed and co-wrote.

Sure, Up in the Air took on the subject of American downsizing already, but that movie saw the glass as half-empty; Larry Crowne (thanks to Hanks’ ever-optimistic heart) sees it as half-full, saying you can change your life, your clothes, your mode of transportation (Crowne trades in his gas-guzzling SUV for a chic and economical Vespa), your love interest and career. You can remake you, in other words.

Crowne starts out as an overly cheery, middle-aged guy who thinks he’ll be happily stocking shelves at the Big Box store until retirement; then he’s canned, because he doesn’t have a college degree and the corporate office doesn’t want to “limit” his career advancement by keeping him on as a lowly shelf-stocker.

Not to mention Crowne’s home loan payments have just gone through the roof, thanks to the real estate crisis. So he ends up selling most of his belongings in a weekly yard sale on his lawn; then he gets the idea to go back to school — specifically community college, where his first lesson with Mercedes (Roberts) doesn’t go so well. He’s taken on as a sort of middle-aged fix-up project by fellow student Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who makes his pad look cooler, has him untuck his shirt and wear hipster Vespa attire to class. (Not sure too many guys going through midlife crisis are offered this special service, but Crowne is.)

The story relies heavily on the charm and chemistry between Hanks and Roberts, and thankfully they seem to have it. Or at least they have an effortless Hollywood facsimile of it. There’s nothing beyond a G-rated screen kiss here (thank God), but they do have fun flirting and fumbling onscreen (the two have acted together before, in the underrated Charlie Wilson’s War). Mercedes learns that her job isn’t futile and to look below the surface of a hapless middle-aged college student to see a newly made-over, non-porn surfing middle-aged college student; and Larry learns how to negotiate better in today’s uncertain world.

A couple supporting players almost steal the movie from the big stars. In particular, George Takei as Dr. Matsutani, an economics teacher at the community college, is a standout. You learn more from him than you do from Roberts. But then again, he was Mr. Sulu in the old Star Trek TV show.

George Takei (yes, Mr. Sulu) as economics teacher Dr. Matsutani keeps things lively in Larry Crowne.

Hanks does have some annoying tics as Larry Crowne begins. He smiles too much, he says “spectakalar” instead of “specta-cu-lar,” and he seems so clueless about life outside the Big Box that you think he might be trying out for Forrest Gump 2. But his amiable nature is just a veneer; beneath that he’s sharp and capable, and through his eyes we learn a bit about how the world can suddenly change, and how people have the power to ride those changes.

Uh-oh. I think I just sounded like a movie trailer.

Roberts is puzzling. Clearly, she has been instructed to play her character as totally unpleasant at first — lurching around in class after her morning martini, scowling at everything in sight. Yet, when she wants to, she simply throws on that high-wattage smile, and she becomes instantly likeable. I’m not sure how such a bipolar personality quirk would play out in real life. But onscreen, it’s her meal ticket.

Will young audiences flock to this movie? Not a chance. But a certain demographic will find it preferable to all the 3D outings and superhero blockbusters in our midst: it’s a “small” picture, an old-fashioned kind of movie about people that deserves a chance — just as Larry himself does. (Oh man, that really sounded like a movie trailer.)