You can practically hear the 35-49 segment in a studio marketing executive’s pie-chart presentation exploding upon the release of the first trailer for the Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts rom-com “Larry Crowne.”
Buoyant, bouncy and kind of boring as the film follows the titular character (Hanks) who loses his job and is forced go to back to school, with Roberts playing his teacher — and then love happens (cue Oprah screaming). The picture boasts a huge ensemble cast including Peter Scolari, Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Jon Seda, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Rami Malek, Malcolm Barrett, Maria Canals Barrera, George Takei, Holmes Osborne, Pam Grier, Grace Gummer, Rita Wilson, Dale Dye and Bob Stephenson, but it seems the laughs are gonna be big and broad. Cedric the Entertainer getting frustrated! Larry Crowne crashing his scooter! Gratuitous tighty whitie underwear shot! Everything about this feels so carefully crafted for mainstream play that it conversely feels lifeless (but your Mom will probably love it).
Anyway, guess we’ll see when it opens on July 1st. Trailer below.
