Genre: Comedy
Director: Tom Hanks
Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Sarah Mahoney
*1⁄2
Somewhere in a dark corner of hell, a satanic film class is waiting to study Larry Crowne.
Can there be a better textbook example of soulless Hollywood product than this Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts vehicle? It’s a movie of unbelievable characters, fake emotions and unearned resolutions, cynically pitched as a feel-good flick about coping with unemployment.
Hanks (who also directs, and co-writes with Nia Vardalos) stars as the low-ambition Larry, who happily toils as a minimum-wage drone at U-Mart, a fictional Walmart clone.
When he gets the boot one day after being told he doesn’t meet their requirements because he’s lacking a degree, Larry picks himself up and immediately enrolls at a community college.
There he must take a public-speaking course taught by Mercy, played by the perpetually brittle Julia Roberts.
You get no awards if you figure out there will be a romance between Mercy and Larry. But don’t get excited … the sparks from these two couldn’t ignite an open barrel of gasoline.
Extras include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.
