If I had to pick between the bad teacher in Larry Crowne and the eponymous bad teacher of Bad Teacher, I’m picking Julia Roberts. I can learn from her and not from Cameron Diaz.
Roberts’ character cared that her students learned. She just didn’t like herself. It took Tom Hanks to make her care for herself.
Tom Hanks is Larry Crowne or, as the girl who stole the show called him, Lance Coronona. It’s Hanks being Hanks. He directs, writes, and stars in this movie.
And it’s the girl, Talia, that makes it all worthwhile. Gugu Mbatha-Raw breathes some life into a somewhat stale movie. Her character is vibrant living the life carefree, but always thinking about others. She invites Larry into the scooter club and forces change on him that makes him approach life with more confidence. Not that Tom Hanks lacks confidence, but the terrible luck preceding him seems to go away once he meets Talia.
And that scooter club with Wilmer Valderrama was hilarious. Where has Wilmer been? He was funny in this.
While this one was somewhat boring, can you ever find fault with Tom Hanks?
3 of 5 stars.
UPDATE: I forgot. Are community colleges the hip happening place? And all throughout the film, I was hoping that the study group from Greendale CC would show up and we’d have a CC throw down: scooter club versus the study group. Here’s where I put up the obligatory, “Go, Annie!”
