Larry Crowne

Indian Express Ratings: **

WHEN we first discover Larry Crowne (Hanks),he is pushing trolleys,arranging glass jugs,polishing surfaces and fixing inventories in a ‘Umart’ store. The prospect that he could be crowned “employee of the month” for the ninth time is the highlight of his working life,enough to make him forget he has been overlooked for promotion.

At the end of his shift,he comes home to a lonely house (he has just divorced) and with great care,hangs up the red Umart shirt he wears to work.

When we first discover Mercedes Tainot (Roberts),she is struggling to make it for the 8 am class she teaches at the community college. When she gets there,she is thrilled to see that the number of students is nine,one less than the quorum required to make up a class under apparently a government ruling. Before she can dismiss the class though,in walks Larry.

Mercedes or Mercy as she is called gets through the class with barely hidden scorn and disinterest. Later,she gets home to an unemployed husband surfing porn,and ends her day with a greenish cocktail that has come out of two generous drinks thrown together in a mixer-grinder.

That the ever-cheerful Larry and the ever-contemptuous Mercy,prone occasionally to contemplations like “Am I making a difference in anyone’s life?”,will eventually find love is perhaps a given — even if it is in the course of a class on “The Art of Informal Remarks”.

It’s the amount of givens that Larry Crowne takes liberty with which is the problem. The “uncool” Larry finds himself in Ms Tainot’s class as he takes admission in the college after being thrown out of his Umart job for not having a degree. Low on money,he discovers the cost benefits of a scooter over a car and buys one second-hand. The first day he rides it to college,a “free spirited” girl (in the film’s own words) takes him into her gang of scooter lovers and is soon giving him a makeover from his hair to his clothes,and his home to his reading glasses.

Since it is a film starring Tom Hanks,directed by Hanks and written by him along with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding),the girl (Mbatha-Raw) who calls herself “Talia” and Larry,“Lance” — she likes to give people more “imaginative” names — is guided just by the goodness of her heart,helped along by her pixie good looks. When her amazingly tolerant boyfriend does get jealous,all he does is squeeze Larry’s hand,hard.

As Larry’s vehicle of choice,scooter is perhaps a good metaphor for the film – giving him a semblance of youth without being so rebellious as a motorcycle. In meandering along at a slow,bump-free pace,the film also sticks to that idea.

However,you wish somewhere for a little pace,a few sudden halts,even a few breakdowns. Instead,everything falls in Larry’s lap without much of a sweat – from (a nicely filled out) Roberts,to even the fundamentals of economics as taught by a Japanese professor reading from his own book.

Still,Dr Matsutani has the fig leaf of a book and a laugh worth a few chills. All Ms Tainot deploys in her class are some well-rehearsed hrrmphs,well-arched eyebrows and a bell,throwing her unfortunate ten students speech topics as varied as Benjamin Disraeli to pasta,only to sit back and smirk. The first thing she wants to teach them,she says,is to “care”. Really?

shalini.langer@expressindia.com