Larry Crowne Review

Larry Crowne was a breath of fresh air in summer movie season filled with green rings, magical children, comic book superheroes, a western sci-fi, etc. This movie is another example that you don’t need millions of dollars in special effects in order to make a good movie. Sometimes, we can get overloaded with all the visual effects that are in the summer blockbuster movies and we just need a movie-detox
, and Larry Crowne fits the bill.

The story was simple and predictable, but yet enjoyable. The story is about Larry Crowne (played by Tom Hanks) who get’s fired from his job and decides to go back to school in order to expand his knowledge. The theme of this movie hits home to many American’s who spend most of their lives working for one company only to find them downsized due to budget cuts. Like the storyline, many people have to back to school and learn a new skill in order for them to be better equipped in the job market. And since this is considered a romance comedy, Larry Crowne finds love along the way in the person of Julia Roberts who also is his teacher.

What I loved about the story is that Larry Crowne handled the situation he was in very positively instead of the typical Hollywood stereotype of a character being fired as being bitter, violent, and vengeful. Of course, being fired wasn’t a good feeling, but after a suggestion from his neighbor, he decides to go to college to learn the skills that will help him in finding a new job. Due to the high price in gas, he buys scooter to save money. At the end of the movie, he gives up his house to foreclosure and opts to live in a small apartment. Though this movie is deemed as a romance comedy, I believe it was more of a movie regarding a person’s growth in dealing with life who eventually finds love though he wasn’t looking for it.

Many people prejudge this movie as not being good because it is deemed as a box office failure. Well, if you compare this movie to it’s fellow movies that were released at the same time, then “failure” is a pretty accurate term. But, one thing that people have to be aware of is that the movie did not require the same amount of money that the other movies needed in order to be produced. Because there were only a few locations, it didn’t take long to shoot the principal photography. And because there weren’t any special effects, it didn’t take long to wrap-up postproduction. As of this article, which is one month since it’s US release, the movie, which took $30 million to make, already made twice the money it took to produce it. By December, it should be on DVD, which would mean that every sale would be purely profit for the production company. It may not have made the same amount of money as the other blockbuster movies, but it is by no means a failure.

Now for some Chazztastic Thoughts:

• I’m glad the main character wasn’t white trash (or black trash or latino trash or trash) because if he was, you do know the movie would’ve been about suing the former employer for discrimination for being “educationally limited”.
• Wasn’t it cool that the “brotha” neighbor still had his garage/yard sale hustle even though he won the lottery?
• You know, I could make-out with a hot teacher and get an A+ from her, I’d take all her classes because she isn’t ever going to give you a bad grade.

My rating for this movie is DVD. Though it’s still worth watching in the movie theater, this type of movie will give you the same feeling while watching it on DVD. And, if I was at the store and this movie was on sale, I would definitely buy it for my personal collection.

The following is my video review if you're too lazy to read this blog.