Larry Crowne 1

Larry Crowne

Larry CrowneTheatrical release poster

Directed by Tom Hanks

Produced by Gary GoetzmanTom Hanks

Written by Tom HanksNia Vardalos

Starring Tom HanksJulia RobertsCedric the EntertainerTaraji P. Henson

Music by James Newton Howard

Cinematography Philippe Rousselot

Editing by Alan Cody

Studio Vendôme PicturesPlaytoneStudioCanal

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Release dates •• July 1, 2011

Running time 99 minutes

Country United StatesCanada

Language English

Budget $30 million

Box office $68,608,245[1]

Larry Crowne is a 2011 American romantic comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. The film wasproduced and directed by Hanks, who co-wrote its screenplay with Nia Vardalos. Larry Crowne was released on July1, 2011 in the United States and Canada.

PlotLarry Crowne (Tom Hanks), a middle-aged Navy veteran, is fired from his job at a big-box store, despite hisseniority and satisfactory work, because the company has decided that his lack of a college education impedes anychance of advancement. Larry, who is divorced and lives alone, cannot find a job and could lose his house. Larry'sneighbor, Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer), advises him to enroll in the local community college and get an educationin order to get better opportunities in the future.Subsisting on unemployment benefits and unable to afford to drive his SUV, Larry decides to buy a scooter fromLamar. After visiting the college and getting advice from the school Dean, he enrolls in courses on economics,speech, and writing. On the first day of school, Larry meets Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a free spirit who also drivesa scooter.Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts) walks into her Speech class and realises that only nine students are in attendance. Since the state requires a minimum of ten, she cancels the class but then Larry appears and Mercedes reluctantly has

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to begin teaching.Larry and Talia share an Economics class taught by Dr. Ed Matsutani (George Takei), who mixes sarcasm withseriousness in his teachings. He confiscates Larry's cell phone due to his texting habits with Talia.Mercedes is unhappily married. Her slacker husband Dean (Bryan Cranston), a former professor turned writer turnedblogger, looks at pornography on his computer, removing web pages before Mercedes can catch him in the act. Hefancies himself an internet blogger and tells her that he works hard all day writing. When Mercedes informs him sheknows he is really looking at porn, Dean's defense is that he's just "a guy, who’s a guy, being a guy". Unhappy in hermarriage, she drinks at home after school so she can stand to be around him.Talia invites Larry to join a club of scooter riders led by her boyfriend Dell Gordo (Wilmer Valderrama), who issomewhat jealous of all the attention Talia gives Larry. Talia, with the help of her scooter gang friends, uses fengshui to reorganize Larry's house and give him a more stylish haircut and wardrobe.When a night with Dean goes horribly wrong, a drunken Mercedes demands to be let out of the car. Larry and gangnotice Mercedes waiting alone at a bus stop, so Larry offers a ride home. Mercedes believes that Larry is involvedwith the much-younger Talia and reluctantly accepts a ride, but her attitude changes when they see Dean gettingarrested for drunk driving. At her front door, Mercedes asks if Larry would care for a kiss, so they do. She wants tohave sex as well, but Larry declines, not wanting to take advantage of her since she has been drinking.Dean comes home by cab to find all his stuff on the front lawn. Mercedes is unhappy and hungover and tells Larrynot to brag to anyone about what happened the night before.Now that Larry cannot afford to live in his house any longer, he uses the knowledge he gained in his Economicsclass to legally turn over his house and keys to the bank, with a 30-day notice that he will be gone. Larry ends uphosting a yard sale and pizza party at Lamar's house, and upon paying for the pizzas, he's surprised to see that thedelivery man is Jack (Rob Riggle), a snide executive who helped fire Larry. Larry is also now working at a diner runby his friend, Frank (Ian Gomez). Mercedes runs into Talia, who is telling Frances, her English teacher (Pam Grier),that she will be dropping out of college to start a thrift store. Mercedes assumes that Larry must know about heractions due to their supposed relationship, but Talia assures her that they are just friends. Mercedes appears to behappier now that she knows the truth. Larry, however, does not know about Talia dropping out, since he wassurprised that he didn't see her in Economics class that day. He visits Talia, and appears to be slightly disappointedabout her actions, but also wishes her luck in her future endeavors. In the interim, Frances comes over to Mercedes'apartment to provide emotional support, as Mercedes will be divorcing Dean, prompting them to clean out Dean'soffice and have dinner together.Finals now come, and right before the Speech final, Larry and Mercedes meet outside class, with her telling Larrythat she scheduled him last with his "geography" speech. After everyone has finished their speech before him, Larrystands up in class and talks about his travels around the world while in the Navy, and makes references to the otherstudents' speeches, who all appear to be inspired by his. Larry then looks at Mercedes as he mentions that he couldnever have told about his life with great passion and enthusiasm if he had not taken her Speech class. Larry is given abig round of applause by his classmates, as well as Mercedes, who is happier in her life without Dean and hasdeveloped a passion for teaching again.While working at the diner, Larry sees Mercedes with Frances, and approaches the table. Mercedes tells Larry thatshe gave him an "A+" in her class, which makes him very happy about going to school and finding more meaning inhis life. When the next term begins, some of the students from Mercedes' Speech class register for her Shakespeareclass, but are sad to see that Larry isn't registered for that class as well. Larry is seen taking Dr. Matsutani'ssecond-term Economics class.Mercedes walks to her office and sees a note from Larry on the door, which is an invitation to have her over for aFrench toast dinner, with the address to his new apartment. She drives over to his apartment and he greets her, theykiss and enter the apartment, closing the door behind them.

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Cast• Tom Hanks as Larry Crowne• Julia Roberts as Mercedes Tainot• Cedric the Entertainer as Lamar• Taraji P. Henson as B'Ella• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Talia• Wilmer Valderrama as Dell Gordo• Bryan Cranston as Dean Tainot• Pam Grier as Frances• Rami Malek as Steve Dibiasi• Maria Canals Barrera as Lala Pinedo• Rita Wilson as Wilma Q. Gammelgaard• George Takei as Dr. Ed Matsutani• Sy Richardson as Avery• Dale Dye as Cox• Ian Gomez as Frank• Malcolm Barrett as Dave Mack• Chet Hanks as Pizza Delivery Boy• Nia Vardalos as Map Genie (voice)• Jon Seda as Officer Diamond• Grace Gummer as Natalia Calimeris

ProductionLarry Crowne was first announced as Talk of the Town in February 2006. Universal Pictures set up the project as astar vehicle for Tom Hanks with Nia Vardalos hired to write the screenplay based on the life of Jim Chandler, afriend of Hanks, about a man who goes through an unexpected career change. In January 2010, Julia Roberts wascast opposite Hanks. In the following October, Bryan Cranston joined the cast. Later in the month, filming began inLos Angeles. The film's production budget totaled $30 million.

Theatrical releaseLarry Crowne was released in theaters on July 1, 2011. In the United States and Canada, Summit Entertainmentoriginally intended to distribute the film, but Universal Pictures claimed the distribution rights. Universal releasedLarry Crowne in 2,973 theaters. The film grossed $15.7 million over the four-day opening weekend that included theU.S. holiday Independence Day, ranking fourth at the box office.The studio reported that 71% of the audience was over 50 years old. The independent firm CinemaScore said its exitpolling showed that 93% of the audience was over 25 years old, which The Hollywood Reporter said was "old evenfor an adult-skewing pic". CinemaScore reported that theatergoers gave the film a "B" grade. The film's box officeperformance was considered a disappointment, particularly with Hanks and Roberts as the stars.Larry Crowne grossed $35.6 million in the United States and Canada, though tallies for international box office hasvaried depending on source. The-Numbers.com reports a worldwide total of $59.8 million whereas Box Office Mojostates a worldwide gross of $72 million. According to Box Office Magazine, the movie has grossed $68.6 millionworldwide.[2]

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Critical receptionThe film received generally negative reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 34%based on reviews from 181 critics with an average rating of 5/10. It reported the consensus, "Despite the relaxed,easy chemistry of stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, Larry Crowne is surprisingly bland and conventional." RogerEbert gave the film two stars out of four, stating that the film has "a good premise and a colorful supporting cast, butwhat it doesn't have is a reason for existing". At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 toreviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 41 reviews. It was released onDVD November 15, 2011.

SoundtrackThe film's soundtrack was released by Rhino Records on June 28, 2011.Track listing:1. Electric Light Orchestra – "Hold On Tight"2. Tom Petty – "Runnin' Down a Dream"3. Swingfly – "Something’s Got Me Started"4. Billy Squier – "The Stroke"5. Sky Ferreira – "Obsession"6. Electric Light Orchestra – "Calling America"7. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – "Listen to Her Heart"8. Smokey Robinson – "Cruisin'"9. Tyler Hilton – "Faithful"10. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – "Walls (No.3)"11. Jarrod Gorbel – "I’ll Do Better"12. Gigi – "The Hundredth Time"13. James Newton Howard – "French Toast"

References[1] http:/ / www. boxoffice. com/ statistics/ movies/ larry-crowne-2011?q=larry%20crowne[2] Box Office.com (Larry Crowne) (http:/ / www. boxoffice. com/ statistics/ movies/ larry-crowne-2011?q=larry crowne)

External links• Official website (http:/ / www. larrycrowne. com/ )• Larry Crowne (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt1583420/ ) at the Internet Movie Database• Larry Crowne (http:/ / www. rottentomatoes. com/ m/ larry_crowne/ ) at Rotten Tomatoes• Are America and Tom Hanks out of step? (http:/ / latimesblogs. latimes. com/ movies/ 2011/ 07/

tom-hanks-julia-roberts-larry-crowne-box-office-theaters-reviews. html) at Los Angeles Times

Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and ContributorsLarry Crowne  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=584262813  Contributors: Alexbhargava, Andykhayat, BKMastah, Bbassman, Beyond My Ken, Biasoli, BigFilmNerd,Bignole, Bjmullan, Bjones, Bobby Stiles, Bovineboy2008, Cartoon Boy, ChrisBrown, Classiquereturns, Cliff1911, Darkwarriorblake, DocWatson42, Drums0203, Ebehn, Erik, Favonian,Fortdj33, FrankRizzo2006, Gareth Griffith-Jones, GhostFace1234, Giantdevilfish, GoingBatty, GreaterMovieman, Hoo man, Hurricanefan25, InfamousPrince, Jedi94, Jim1138, Johnnybravo44,Jpraup, Katrinka ohio, Klemen Kocjancic, Koavf, Kollision, Lava100100, Lost on belmont, Magioladitis, Mbinebri, Mdnavman, MikeAllen, Millahnna, Nacorodriguez09, Nbdelboy, Nitefly85,Nyttend, Obi-WanKenobi-2005, Peetyboy117, Peppage, Prolog, Red Rover112, Scooteristi, Selene Scott, Shaq91, Stoshmaster, TBloemink, TDelapa, TFunk, TheCuriousGnome,TheRealFennShysa, TheValentineBros, Thegreat100, Tombright, TonyTheTiger, Usnerd, Websurfer246, Wildhartlivie, 丁, 147 anonymous edits

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