The tepid reviews that this 2011 dramedy is receiving have been pervasive, yet there is something innately Capraesque about Tom Hanks' sophomore directorial effort, his first since 1996's "That Thing You Do!" The movie proudly wears its heart on its sleeve, and the commitment that Hanks shows in his character's plight goes a long way to compensate for the episodic, by-the-numbers screenplay co-written by Hanks and Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding"). The screenplay is what makes the film a bit disheartening to watch since its amiable nature and can-do sensibilities don't produce much in the way of compelling conflict. The concept appears timely, but the treatment feels like a Hollywood studio-manufactured version of what happens when sudden unemployment and economic hardship alter your reality.
The title character is a divorced man in his mid-fifties who is the ideal employee in a Walmart-type store after spending nearly twenty years as a cook in the Navy. Thinking he was about to win another employee of the month award, Larry finds out that he is the victim of a downsizing ostensibly due to his lack of a college degree being told he has reached his maximum growth potential with the store. In order to ensure that he never has this problem again, Larry enrolls in a local community college where is advised to take an introductory economics course and a class on public speaking where he meets a lovely but disillusioned professor named Mercedes Tainot, herself dealing with a bad marriage and a drinking problem. Larry also acquires a scooter and attracts the strictly platonic attention of a fellow student named Tania, a free spirit who is a member of a harmlessly hip scooter gang and makes him over to look more fashion forward.
Little time is spent on Larry's actual economic situation, and Hanks uses the convenient device of a pretentious loan officer (played comically by his wife, Rita Wilson) to explain what Larry has to do to curtail his sinking mortgage payments. Along the way, he finds a job as a line cook at a diner, makes new friends, and learns to loosen up a little and enjoy the small things in life. At first, Hanks as an actor appears to be in "Forrest Gump" mode as Larry, avuncular and docile to the point of appearing mentally challenged, but then he gravitates toward his "You've Got Mail" character when he sets out to win Roberts' heart. As Mercedes, Roberts seems to be sliding into middle age a lot smoother than I would have expected from an actress whose popularity peaked a decade ago. She's certainly a lot more endearing here than she was in her navel-gazing exercise last year, "Eat, Pray, Love".
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is appealing as Tania, but her character is probably the most unbelievable in the story. As Larry's constantly huckstering neighbor, Cedric the Entertainer is used primarily for comic relief, while Taraji P. Henson has a barely-there role as his perky wife. So does Pam Grier who provides her earthy presence all far too briefly as Mercedes' fellow faculty member. Bryan Cranston has the predictable role of Mercedes' porn-surfing, no-account husband and plays him exactly to formula. George Takei steals several scenes as the self-absorbed economics professor, while Wilmer Valderrama appears to be upending his role as Fez on "The 70's Show" as Tania's innocuously jealous boyfriend. By the way, it's hard to miss Grace Gummer as one of the students since she is a carbon copy of her mother Meryl Streep's younger self. The movie rallies in the second half of its 99-minute running time, but despite a heavy likability factor due to its stars, I wish there was less Hollywood fairy tale dust in the story.
The title character is a divorced man in his mid-fifties who is the ideal employee in a Walmart-type store after spending nearly twenty years as a cook in the Navy. Thinking he was about to win another employee of the month award, Larry finds out that he is the victim of a downsizing ostensibly due to his lack of a college degree being told he has reached his maximum growth potential with the store. In order to ensure that he never has this problem again, Larry enrolls in a local community college where is advised to take an introductory economics course and a class on public speaking where he meets a lovely but disillusioned professor named Mercedes Tainot, herself dealing with a bad marriage and a drinking problem. Larry also acquires a scooter and attracts the strictly platonic attention of a fellow student named Tania, a free spirit who is a member of a harmlessly hip scooter gang and makes him over to look more fashion forward.
Little time is spent on Larry's actual economic situation, and Hanks uses the convenient device of a pretentious loan officer (played comically by his wife, Rita Wilson) to explain what Larry has to do to curtail his sinking mortgage payments. Along the way, he finds a job as a line cook at a diner, makes new friends, and learns to loosen up a little and enjoy the small things in life. At first, Hanks as an actor appears to be in "Forrest Gump" mode as Larry, avuncular and docile to the point of appearing mentally challenged, but then he gravitates toward his "You've Got Mail" character when he sets out to win Roberts' heart. As Mercedes, Roberts seems to be sliding into middle age a lot smoother than I would have expected from an actress whose popularity peaked a decade ago. She's certainly a lot more endearing here than she was in her navel-gazing exercise last year, "Eat, Pray, Love".
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is appealing as Tania, but her character is probably the most unbelievable in the story. As Larry's constantly huckstering neighbor, Cedric the Entertainer is used primarily for comic relief, while Taraji P. Henson has a barely-there role as his perky wife. So does Pam Grier who provides her earthy presence all far too briefly as Mercedes' fellow faculty member. Bryan Cranston has the predictable role of Mercedes' porn-surfing, no-account husband and plays him exactly to formula. George Takei steals several scenes as the self-absorbed economics professor, while Wilmer Valderrama appears to be upending his role as Fez on "The 70's Show" as Tania's innocuously jealous boyfriend. By the way, it's hard to miss Grace Gummer as one of the students since she is a carbon copy of her mother Meryl Streep's younger self. The movie rallies in the second half of its 99-minute running time, but despite a heavy likability factor due to its stars, I wish there was less Hollywood fairy tale dust in the story.