Larry Crowne (2011)

After losing his job, a middle-aged man reinvents himself by going back to college.

Director:

Tom Hanks

Writers:

Tom Hanks, Nia Vardalos

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Sarah Mahoney

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Larry Crowne
Sarah Mahoney	...	Samantha
Roxana Ortega	...	Alvarez
Randall Park	...	Trainee Wong
Brady Rubin	...	Dorothy Genkos
Alex Quijano	...	Team Leader #1
Tina Huang	...	Team Leader #2
E-Kan Soong	...	Team Leader #3
Tarina Pouncy	...	Team Leader #4
Sy Richardson	...	Avery
Julie Wagner	...	Vacuum Shopper
Rob Riggle	...	Jack Strang
Erin Underwood	...	Mom with Baby
Dale Dye	...	Cox
Barry Sobel	...	Cubby

Storyline

Until he was downsized, affable, amiable Larry Crowne (Hanks) was a superstar team leader at the big-box company where he's worked since his time in the Navy. Underwater on his mortgage and unclear on what to do with his suddenly free days, Larry heads to his local college to start over. There he becomes part of a colorful community of outcasts, also-rans and the overlooked all trying to find a better future for themselves...often moving around town in a herd of scooters. In his public-speaking class, Larry develops an unexpected crush on his teacher Mercedes Tainot (Roberts), who has lost as much passion for teaching as she has for her husband. The simple guy who has every reason to think his life has stalled will come to learn an unexpected lesson: when you think everything worth having has passed you by, you just might discover your reason to live.

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | unsuccessful | male protagonist | college | scooter | 

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Taglines:

Never too late in life to start living.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fictional "U-Mart" where Larry ( Tom Hanks ) works is actually a K-Mart. Based on the color scheme and the outtakes on the DVD where Tom Hanks mentions about being able to "find everything they need at K-Mart". At the time this film was made, K-Mart was in serious decline and had been on a downward spiral for some eight years. While the excuse given to Crowne was about restrictions on who could move up into corporate management, the fact is that they were actually scaling back in those positions. Another issue was that they had been gaining notoriety for firing long-term employees so that they would not qualify for any retirement benefits. While Crowne might have found the departure difficult, it was inevitable.

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Goofs

The bar code on Larry's college photo ID spells his surname incorrectly as Crown instead of Crowne.

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Quotes

Lamar: I told you how to avoid divorce lawyers. You get married, and you stay married.

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Crazy Credits

Some of the roadsigns shown in the background don't have actual place names on them but words used in the movie, like 'Chilloot Park' (from a line said by Dean Tainot), or 'Break even paradox' (from a line said by Larry Crowne during Economics 1).

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Connections

Features Pygmalion (1938)

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Soundtracks

Something's Got Me Started
Written by Andreas Kleerup and Richard Silva
Performed by Swingfly
Courtesy of EMI Music Sweden
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

Wonderful comedy

I believe this movie to be very underrated and cannot understand why. I loved the story and characters. They were all so real and very funny. Hanks and Roberts were simply great but the whole cast did an impressive job and George Takei as the economics lecturer, Dr. Matsutani, was absolutely hilarious. OK the story is predicable and so was the ending, but I didn't care. It's a fun ride that's not to be taken seriously, so just sit back and enjoy this wonderful comedy.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Talk of the Town

Filming Locations:

Reseda, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,096,065, 3 July 2011

Gross USA:

$35,608,245

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$75,055,070

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Vendome Pictures, StudioCanal

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1