LARRY CROWNE (Tom Hanks)
Directed, co-written, and starred by Tom Hanks, LARRY CROWNE is the feel good movie of the year. I know the term is such a cliche, but Tom Hanks knows what he wants; he wanted to do a feel-good movie, and that's what he did. Employing a light treatment in an otherwise mature subject matter (at least to me), Hanks brings to light a story of a middle-aged man who is kind, lovable, and charming, but who lacks college education, and for this minor flaw he is stripped down in front of us. He gets sacked at U-Mart, and therefore gets in trouble with the bank. But that doesn't manifest at all onscreen, that feeling of self-pity or despair or shame. As an audience I did not feel the weight of what Larry just went through, and that's what's great about Hanks' portrayal of Larry. He's so optimistic that problems seem not to bother him. Make no mistake. Larry is no idiot. He attends community college to make sure he never goes through that painful and humiliating exper...