if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I don't understand the low star count (6.1 as of this review). This is a good movie with a good story, good acting, nice people, and what should have been a breakthrough performance for Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Talia, who lit up the screen with her charisma and effervescent smile. (Maybe it was. She's been busy since this movie.) Tom Hanks, Wilmer Valderrama, Bryan Cranston, Rita Wilson, and Julia Roberts are all excellent too. If you want murder, explosions, criminals, and cruelty look elsewhere. If you want a pleasant, fun, enjoyable movie with likable characters with redeeming qualities with whom you can identify and for whom you can root, this is it.

Should be called the Awakening of Larry Crowne.When i got made redundant i was 48 years old been working for several years as an engineer buyer. I decided to go back to college in the UK, and I actually learnt all about Microsoft to a high level, and became a teacher in further education as I passed all my exams for that. So this movie and me had something in common. Larry looses his job, and goes back to college. Sounds exciting NOT which is a shame as there is so much more about this movie. Friendship made, love, awakening, being part of a team, pushing oneself, and not being scared to try new things. This film had a brilliant cast not only Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts, but Grace Gummer, Dean Tainot, George Takai , Taraji P. Henson, and others. Directed by Tom Hanks who did a great job. I LOVED IT. It hooked me from the beginning to the end, i wanted more. A gentle love story, with comedy, a good story line and nicely paced and so good not to be exposed to raunchy sex scenes which seem to be the norm now as though people have to watch constant sex scenes to enjoy a movie. WRONG there are still a lot of us, who just want to enjoy a little romance that leaves us feeling good. The 98 minutes flew by, and i will certainly put this one on my repeat list. If you just want to enjoy good actors in a light comedy romance then you cant go wrong with this. Try it, you wont be disappointed.

Even when a film has very good material to work with (which this one unfortunately doesn't), it would still have to overcome the distraction of two giant stars to somewhat make it work. Here the material is so weak it's difficult to even get out enough words for this ten line review. These are two of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet, and watching them together on screen is just a distraction.. for mostly whatever they're doing you are still aware that you're watching Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks.. not some random English teacher and one of her students. Box Office MoJo indicates this movie made over seventy-two million dollars worldwide, so I guess the millions invested in the two blockbuster lead actors paid off well for a few folks. Would imagine their devoted fans thought it worthwhile too.. but in truth, it was hardly at all memorable.

If you only watch action movies, if you only look for car chases, if you can only watch obvious movies, you will hate Larry Crowne. This is a slow, subtle movie about the American middle class and how, at times, it fails. There is nothing obvious about this movie at all, which means you must use your brain while you watch it. Larry, the title character is emblematic of a hard-working, well-intentioned guy who loses his job because he doesn't fit the corporate profile of a college-educated middle-management big-box manager. He has to cut expenses, go back to school, and down-size. His American dream has run up on the rocks. As an almost-fifty kind of guy, he has to re-invent himself. None of this is easy to watch.He does not go to Harvard. He goes to a no-name community college. Every note in this movie rings true--abandoning his house and mortgage, buying a scooter, wearing his polo shirts tucked into his pants. His professor for speech class has long since become disillusioned with bad students, bad pay, and a stupid husband. In a series of scenes between the professor and her husband (who does nothing--she's the bread winner), we see her drinking too much, losing hope of any kind of meaningful relationship, wondering if things will ever get better. Her husband is hooked on internet porn--sad, really. In a sense, the movie is highly critical of consumer culture, the idea that everyone should have a mortgage, an SUV, and a white picket fence. In reality, none of these things matter.All of this develops through a series of scenes that slowly tell a story of failure, disillusionment, and desperation. The up-side, though it doesn't appear obvious at once, is speech class. Learning something new, outside of oneself. Roberts, as a professor who once had big ideals about doing a phd and writing a dissertation on Shakespeare, is spot on, and anyone who has taught anything at 8:00 am will understand her frustrations. One of the best scenes is Roberts riding on Hanks' scooter after she has fought with her husband--iconic.The denouement--Roberts going to see Hanks at his job as a short-order cook--is a quiet cry for help, and they both know it. She has helped him rebuild himself, and he is a small, quiet island upon which she might rebuild herself as well. The movie is slow. There are no shoot outs, chases, or fighting of any kind. There are no special effects. This is what life is really like. Often, unremarkable, but frequently, if you are paying attention, stunning.