Larry Crowne is a 2011 American romantic comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. The film was directed by Hanks, who co-wrote its screenplay with Nia Vardalos. Larry Crowne was released on July 1, 2011 in the United States and Canada.

Plot[link]

Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks), a middle-aged Navy veteran, is fired from his job at a big-box store, despite his seniority and satisfactory work, because the company has decided that his lack of a college education impedes any chance of advancement. Larry, who is divorced and lives alone, cannot find a job and could lose his house. Larry's neighbor, Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer), advises him to enroll in the local community college and get an education in order to get better opportunities in the future.

As he looks over a course catalog, Larry meets the college dean, Dave Busik (Holmes Osborne), who encourages him to take Economics and Speech. While pumping gas in his SUV, he sees a couple on scooters fueling up and how much cheaper it is to do so. Larry buys a scooter from Lamar's never-ending yard sale.

On the first day of school, Larry meets Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a free spirit who also drives a scooter. They form a friendship right away. Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts) walks into the Speech class that she teaches and notices only nine students in attendance. Since the state requires at least ten, the class is cancelled, much to her delight. Suddenly, Larry appears, so Mercedes reluctantly begins teaching class.

Larry and Talia share an Economics class taught by Dr. Ed Matsutani (George Takei), who mixes sarcasm with seriousness in his teachings. He confiscates Larry's cell phone due to his texting habits with Talia.

Mercedes' husband Dean (Bryan Cranston) looks at pornography on his computer, removing web pages before Mercedes can catch him in the act. Dean's defense is that he's just "a guy, who’s a guy, being a guy." Mercedes is unhappy with her marriage and is also an alcoholic.

Talia befriends Larry and invites him to join a club of scooter riders led by her boyfriend Dell Gordo (Wilmer Valderrama), who is somewhat jealous of all the attention Talia gives Larry. Talia and her friends redecorate Larry's house and give him a more stylish haircut and wardrobe.

When a night with Dean goes horribly wrong, a drunken Mercedes demands to be let out of the car. Larry and gang notice Mercedes waiting alone at a bus stop, so Larry offers a ride home. Mercedes believes that Larry is involved with the much-younger Talia and reluctantly accepts a ride, but her attitude changes when they see Dean getting arrested. At her front door, Mercedes asks if Larry would care for a kiss, so they do. She wants to have sex as well, but Larry declines, not wanting to take advantage of her. After she closes the door, Larry celebrates.

Dean comes home by cab to find all his stuff on the front lawn. Mercedes is unhappy and hungover and tells Larry not to brag to anyone about what happened the night before.

Now that Larry cannot afford to live in his house any longer, he uses the knowledge he gained in his Economics class to legally turn over his house and keys to the bank, with a 30-day notice that he will be gone. Larry ends up hosting a yard sale and pizza party at Lamar's house, and upon paying for the pizzas, he's surprised to see that the delivery man is Jack (Rob Riggle), a snide executive who helped fire Larry. Larry is also now working at at a diner run by his friend, Frank (Ian Gomez). Mercedes runs into Talia, who is telling her English teacher (Pam Grier), that she will be dropping out of college to start a thrift store. Mercedes assumes that Larry must know about her actions due to their supposed relationship, but Talia assures her that they are just friends. Mercedes appears to be happier now that she knows the truth. Larry, however, does not know about Talia dropping out, since he was surprised that he didn't see her in Economics class that day. He visits Talia, and appears to be slightly disappointed about her actions, but also wishes her luck in her future endeavors.

Finals now come, and right before the Speech final, Larry and Mercedes meet outside class, with her telling Larry that she scheduled him last with his "geography" speech. After everyone has finshed their speech before him, Larry stands up in class and talks about his travels around the world while in the Navy, and makes references to the other students' speeches, who all appear to be inspired by his. Larry then looks at Mercedes as he mentions that he could never have told about his life with great passion and enthusiasm if he had not taken her Speech class. Larry is given a big round of applause by his classmates, as well as Mercedes, who is happier in her life without Dean and has developed a passion for teaching again.

While working at the diner, Larry sees Mercedes with a friend, and approaches the table. She tells Larry that she gave him an "A+" in her class, which makes him very happy about going to school and finding more meaning in his life. When the next term begins, some of the students from Mercedes' Speech class register for her Shakespeare class, but are sad to see that Larry isn't registered for that class as well. Larry is seen taking Dr. Matsutani's second-term Economics class.

Mercedes walks to her office and sees a note from Larry on the door, which is an invitation to have her over for a French toast dinner, with the address to his new apartment. She drives over to his apartment and he greets her, they kiss and both enter the apartment, closing the door behind them.

Cast[link]

• Tom Hanks as Larry Crowne
• Julia Roberts as Mercedes Tainot
• Cedric the Entertainer as Lamar
• Taraji P. Henson as B'Ella
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Talia
• Wilmer Valderrama as Dell Gordo
• Bryan Cranston as Dean Tainot
• Pam Grier as Frances
• Rami Malek as Steve Dibiasi
• Maria Canals Barrera as Lala Pinedo
• Rita Wilson as Wilma Q. Gammelgaard
• George Takei as Dr. Ed Matsutani
• Sy Richardson as Avery
• Dale Dye as Cox
• Ian Gomez as Frank
• Malcolm Barrett as Dave Mack
• Chet Hanks as Pizza Delivery Boy
• Nia Vardalos as Map Genie (voice)
• Jon Seda as Officer Diamond

Production[link]

Larry Crowne was first announced as Talk of the Town in February 2006. Universal Pictures set up the project as a star vehicle for Tom Hanks with Nia Vardalos hired to write the screenplay based on the life of Jim Chandler, a friend of Hanks, about a man who goes through an unexpected career change.^[2] In January 2010, Julia Roberts was cast opposite Hanks.^[3] In the following October, Bryan Cranston joined the cast. Later in the month, filming began in Los Angeles.^[4] The film's production budget totaled $30 million.^[5]

Theatrical release[link]

Larry Crowne was released in theaters on July 1, 2011. In the United States and Canada, Summit Entertainment originally intended to distribute the film, but Universal Pictures claimed the distribution rights.^[6] Universal released Larry Crowne in 2,973 theaters. The film grossed $15.7 million over the four-day opening weekend that included the U.S. holiday Independence Day, ranking fourth at the box office.^[7]

The studio reported that 71% of the audience was over 50 years old. The independent firm CinemaScore said its exit polling showed that 93% of the audience was over 25 years old, which The Hollywood Reporter said was "old even for an adult-skewing pic". CinemaScore reported that theatergoers gave the film a "B" grade. The film's box office performance was considered a disappointment, particularly with Hanks and Roberts as the stars.^[8]

To date, Larry Crowne has grossed $35.6 million in the United States and Canada and $16.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $52.4 million.^[9] According to Box Office Magazine, the movie has grossed US$68,608,245 worldwide, already earning over the production budget of $30 million; and eventually making over the overall budget (which includes advertising/marketing costs) of $62 million [1].

Critical reception[link]

The film received generally negative reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 34% based on reviews from 181 critics with an average rating of 5/10. It reported the overall consensus, "Despite the relaxed, easy chemistry of stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, Larry Crowne is surprisingly bland and conventional."^[10] Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, stating that the film has "a good premise and a colorful supporting cast, but what it doesn't have is a reason for existing".^[11] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 41 reviews. It was released on DVD November 15, 2011.^[12]

Soundtrack[link]

The film's soundtrack was released on June 28, 2011.

Track Listing:

1. Electric Light Orchestra - “Hold On Tight”
2. Tom Petty - “Runnin' Down a Dream”
3. Swingfly - “Something’s Got Me Started”
4. Billy Squier - “The Stroke”
5. Sky Ferreira - “Obsession”
6. Electric Light Orchestra - “Calling America”
7. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - “Listen to Her Heart”
8. Smokey Robinson - “Cruisin'"
9. Tyler Hilton - "Faithful"
10. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - “Walls (No.3)”
11. Jarrod Gorbel - “I’ll Do Better”
12. Gigi - “The Hundredth Time”
13. James Newton Howard - “French Toast”

See also[link]

• That Thing You Do! (1996), Tom Hanks' directorial debut

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Larry Crowne at the Internet Movie Database
• Larry Crowne at Rotten Tomatoes
• Are America and Tom Hanks out of step? at Los Angeles Times