Feature

Larry Crowne

Tom Hanks stars as a middle-aged guy who, after losing his job, enrolls in community college and falls in love with his public-speaking teacher, played by Julia Roberts.

Directed by Tom Hanks
(PG-13)

**

Though “too cute for its own good,” Larry Crowne is “hard to dislike,” said Steven Rea in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Credit this to stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, who deliver the particular all-American charm that each has all but patented. Hanks, who also directed, stars as a middle-aged guy who, after losing his job at a big-box retail store, enrolls in community college and falls in love with his public-speaking teacher, played by Roberts. The results are mixed, said Claudia Puig in USA Today.Larry Crowne is both a dated, lackluster comedy and a genial, old-fashioned romance.” While the stars have “an easy chemistry,” the script is loaded with leaden jokes and scenes that “fall resoundingly flat.” Blame those failures on screenplay co-writer Nia Vardalos, of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, said Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. The story, about a nice guy who becomes nicer, “carries blandness to a point beyond tedium.” I watched this movie “with all the pleasure I bring to watching bread rise.”

Recommended

Is the U.S. running out of ammunition?
Cargo of ammunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine waiting on a tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware
Today's big question

Is the U.S. running out of ammunition?

France aspires to work by working less. Is it working?
Paris city center
In depth

France aspires to work by working less. Is it working?

How Ukraine's looming counteroffensive could reshape Russia's war
Ukraine counteroffensive
In depth

How Ukraine's looming counteroffensive could reshape Russia's war

A company made a meatball from lab-grown woolly mammoth, and you can't try it
Mammoth meatball
'extinct protein'

A company made a meatball from lab-grown woolly mammoth, and you can't try it

Most Popular

How to watch 5 planets align in the night sky on Tuesday
Moon, Jupiter, Venus.
skyline

How to watch 5 planets align in the night sky on Tuesday

'Rewilding' animals could help combat climate change, study finds
Two gray wolves.
where the wild things are

'Rewilding' animals could help combat climate change, study finds

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is going to be a dad
Erin Darke and Daniel Radcliffe
harry potter and the dadly hallows

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is going to be a dad