Today sees the release of the trailer for Tom Hanks first directorial feature since That Thing You Do! Hanks will be directing Larry Crowne, a romantic comedy which has Hanks in the lead role against Julia Roberts. Hanks plays the titular Larry Crowne who loses his job and decides to reinvent himself by going back to college, where Roberts plays his teacher, and eventual lover.
The movie has a pretty impressive cast as alongside Hanks and Roberts there is Cedric the Entertainer, Bryan Cranston, Taraji P Henson, Pam Grier, George Takei and Nia Vardalos (who has also co-written the script). The trailer itself looks pretty typical and a bit dull, going for bawdy PG-13 humor aimed at a very mainstream market. But when the film is released on July 1st we could be proven wrong. Check it out the trailer and the plot summary below and see what you think.
Oscar® winners Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts reunite for a dramatic comedy about how the hard knocks from today’s recession inspire one everyday guy to undergo a personal reinvention: Larry Crowne.
Until he was downsized, affable, amiable Larry Crowne (Hanks) was a superstar team leader at the big-box company where he’s worked since his time in the Navy. Underwater on his mortgage and unclear on what to do with his suddenly free days, Larry heads to his local college to start over. There he becomes part of a colorful community of outcasts, also-rans and the overlooked all trying to find a better future for themselves…often moving around town in a herd of scooters. In his public-speaking class, Larry develops an unexpected crush on his teacher Mercedes Tainot (Roberts), who has lost as much passion for teaching as she has for her husband.
The simple guy who has every reason to think his life has stalled will come to learn an unexpected lesson: when you think everything worth having has passed you by, you just might discover your reason to live.
Release Date: July 1, 2011
Genre: Romantic comedy
Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Pam Grier, Rami Malek, George Takei, Grace Gummer, Rita Wilson, Jon Seda
Directed by: Tom Hanks
Written by: Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos
Produced by: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
