Movie Moment: Larry Crowne

I always wondered why Larry Crowne was considered such a flop.  It had Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and a classic underdog-makes-good story.  But when I rented it recently I couldn't help but admit that it was missing that certain something.

That's not to say that it wasn't good.  If you've seen the trailers (or heck, by now, the movie), then you know that the title character (Tom Hanks) loses his upper management job at a Target-esque superstore because he lacks a college degree.  So he enrolls in (what I imagine to be) community college and takes a public speaking class taught by hardass Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts).  Ever the optimist, Larry tackles his new life cheerfully, trading in his gas-guzzling SUV for a more economical scooter and, coincidentally, membership into a scooter gang led by pretty young thing Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and her jealous boyfriend (Wilmer Valderrama).  But Larry has eyes only for teacher, who is conveniently married to a freeloading, porn-obsessed loser (Bryan Cranston).

Larry and Mercedes's courtship is far from orthodox, and certainly not as magical and carefree as this movie poster would lead you to believe.  To be honest, there were plenty of scenes that made me just plain hate Roberts's sour Ms. Tainot.  (At least until I remembered that sour people are sour for a reason and that fictional characters are no different.)  But the frustrated professor has a proverbial gooey center, and Larry is just the charmingly befuddled Little-Engine-that-could kind of guy to unveil it.

Overall, there isn't much of a storyline, and what story there is could have easily been depressing.  There are faint shades of Everything Must Go at play, particularly when Larry attempts to have a yard sale only to be challenged by his large-and-in-charge yard sale king neighbor (played by none other than Cedric the Entertainer).  Similarly, some of the classroom scenes mildly echo those from NBC's darkly comic "Community."  Yet despite these shadows, Larry Crowne remains on a trajectory as confidently upbeat as that of its hero.  Maybe that makes it less complicated, but that's also what makes it a good choice for easy weekend viewing.

Movie Moment: Everything Must Go

On an indie flick streak (having seen Our Idiot Brother last Thursday), I rented Everything Must Go this past weekend.  As I'm sure you've probably heard, it's a stark, seemingly simple story about a man who's hit rock bottom.  Based on Raymond Carver's short story "Why Don't You Dance?", the film centers around Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell), a hotshot Arizona salesman who gets fired from his job and dumped by his wife on the same day.  Fresh from slashing his boss's tires, Nick returns home to new locks and a lawn full of his belongings.  My first reaction was of the "aw, poor guy" kind.  But then it's revealed that Nick is an alcoholic, a piece of information that transforms him from a garden variety hard luck case to the kind of Willy Loman-type anti-hero with whom it's more challenging to identify.

Nick maintains little contact with the outside world despite his new outdoor residence, save for an unlikely friendship with Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace), a local caretaker's boy, and a fledgling acquaintanceship with his new next door neighbor, Samantha (Rebecca Hall), a pregnant photographer waiting for her husband.

At first, Nick doesn't want to sell his stuff.  Having a yard sale isn't even his idea, but is introduced by a passerby who wants to buy the armchair where Nick is sitting.  And really, who could blame him?  His things are all he knows and all he has left in the world -- much like his alcoholism.  What's more, keeping everything on his lawn for all to see represents a kind of defiance.  This becomes clear when the police tell Nick that a neighbor has filed a complaint about his yard.  He's bringing down the value of the neighborhood, after all, violating the social norm of conformity and well-concealed messes.  Set off by this last straw, Nick peeks into the window of the neighbor whom he suspects turned him in - and sees something shocking.  Later he tells Kenny that everyone in suburbia has issues  - he's just more upfront about it.  Although it was his wife and boss who brought his demons to light, it's Nick who's made the decision to embrace them.  For now.

But then Nick begins to see that Kenny needs him.  Overweight and a locker room laughingstock, Kenny wants to learn to play baseball.  So, ex-high school champ Nick steps up to the plate.  Playing catch is only the beginning.  Soon Nick is giving Kenny pointers on salesmanship, helping him assist their customers until all the relics of Nick's old life disappear. 

Kind of brings a whole new meaning to therapeutic de-cluttering, huh?

I won't go into how the movie ends (truth be told, I've already spilled too much), but I'll say this: give it a chance.  Slow-moving as it is, this is one of those films that requires introspection to be appreciated,  much like a classic novel that bores you to tears until a professor (or book club) turns it into something interesting.