Why you should watch the movie Larry Crowne
‘Larry Crowne’ is a 2011 movie directed by Tom Hanks. I found it to be a well-made, funny, and a feel-good movie.
Larry Crowne joined the Navy right after high school. There, he worked as a cook for several years. After leaving the Navy, he joined a large departmental store. He worked diligently and honestly at that store for several years and yet he was fired as part of the store’s downsizing spree. So, he found himself middle-aged, divorced, unemployed, under-skilled and weighed down by a heavy mortgage. To improve his job prospects, he joined a community college where his life turned around.
Let me list for you the wonderful aspects of this movie:
1. The acting is great. The film stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rami Malek, and several others. Everybody completely inhabits their roles.
2. While working at the departmental store, Larry Crowne is the ideal employee. He is a team-player, he is hard-working, he gives individual attention to the clients and he is conscientious. In an early scene, he is arranging items in a particular order and teaching his colleague that this is how it should be done because it is the right thing to do. He is a man who does the right thing just because it is the right thing, not because anyone is watching.
3. His neighbour Lamar has a perpetually ongoing yard sale and haggling is the joy of his life. Throughout the movie, we see how, for him, the sale comes before everything else. He exaggerates the value of items and makes up stories about their provenance. Yet, when Larry needs it, Lamar gives him practical advice and a positive perspective.
4. Talia is Larry’s classmate at college who has a love for life. She gives Larry’s house and Larry himself a makeover. He begins the movie with dyed hair and frumpy t-shirts and jackets. By the end of the movie, he has let his hair be, got a flattering haircut, and wears clothes that fit him well and suit him.
5. The constant insecurity that Talia’s boyfriend feels around Larry while Talia lavishes Larry with attention is comical to watch. We feel for him as he struggles to keep up with Talia’s free spirit.
6. Julia Robert is perfect as the English teacher Mrs. Tainot. Her complete lack of interest in teaching students of a community college is evident in everything she does. The way her face lights up when it appears that one of her courses will be cancelled for the year because of too few students. And her evident disappointment when it isn’t. The way chalk breaks off as she carelessly writes just one word on the blackboard. The way she rudely interrupts presentations that are not to her liking by ringing a bell and moving on to the next candidate. She is cynical and uptight and has a joyless life.
7. Mrs. Tainot maintains strict discipline in her class and no one gets to break the class rules. There is a scene where she perfectly handles a student who attempts to take a phone call in the middle of a class. It feels like a win for teachers everywhere.
8. Larry’s pleasant nature is so refreshing. Even while looking for jobs, and facing rejection after rejection he remains polite with prospective employers. In college, he is open to new experiences. He joins Talia’s motorcycle ‘gang’ of youngsters and fits right in without being judgemental or condescending.
9. Then there is the scene where Dave, one of Larry’s classmates becomes absolutely crestfallen when his favourite movie Star Trek is confused with Star Wars.
10. There is a tiny reminder that a tattoo in a foreign language may not always be what it seems to be.
11. Larry’s classmates visibly improve by the end of the year. Lala was painfully shy and hesitant at the beginning of the year. By the end of it, she had befriended her classmates, cheers them on their success, and expresses her opinions clearly. Their speaking skills also show a remarkable improvement.
12. And finally, Larry’s hard work is inspiring. He applies himself to his studies with diligence. He waits tables at his friend’s diner to make ends meet. Just as he was a model employee, he becomes a model student. Seeing his hard work succeed fills the viewer with hope. Larry does not look like he is on his way to becoming a millionaire. He does not appear to be someone who would be featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. He is, like many of us, working hard to make his life better than it was. From a lonely and unemployed man, he turns himself into a man with a college education, a group of friends who cares for him, a better financial status, and a job working among people he likes.
Larry Crowne is a movie that is joyful. It is the journey of an everyday hero. He is not heroic because he does great things. He is a hero because whatever he chooses to do- be it relationships, education or work- he does it with honesty. And the movie shows us, that that is enough.
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