Larry Crowne
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 1, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
22
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJul 2, 2011
The film seems simple and facile at a glance, but these characters and their dilemmas stay with you. These days, any of us could suddenly be Larry Crowne. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickJul 1, 2011
If you're looking for a movie you can take your parents or young children to without fear of embarrassment or the need for endless explanations, this is the one. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 30, 2011
It's simply an opportunity to spend time with characters who may lack depth but are fun to watch. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondJun 29, 2011
This charmer about late middle-aged renaissance is pertinent for these times and a perfect summer comedy for grown-ups looking to escape robots and superheroes. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 29, 2011
The pleasant surprises in Larry Crowne come from its side characters. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 1, 2011
Breezy but forgettable. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 30, 2011
Hanks directs with assurance. Perhaps if he had teamed with a more agile writer, less given to cheesy yuck-fests, Larry Crowne would be the nuanced adult love story it aims to be. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 30, 2011
Larry Crowne should not be mistaken for a masterpiece. It is summer entertainment: genial, undemanding, lightweight. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 30, 2011
Too cute for its own good, Larry Crowne is nonetheless hard to dislike. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJun 30, 2011
A perfectly pleasant but fluffy, inconsequential romantic comedy. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraJun 27, 2011
This one coasts by on Hanks' immense appeal and charm, but more focus and a touch more sharpness are needed to make it really come alive. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 1, 2011
It's enough that these two castaways are friends, but I guess friendship doesn't cut it when you're trying to create a star-driven hit. It should, though. Better a believable friendship than an unbelievable love affair. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJun 30, 2011
As a director, Hanks makes some nice choices (Larry Crowne lives in a very naturally integrated suburb, for one) but there's little in the film that doesn't feel made-for-TV. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJun 29, 2011
It's easy enough to accept the romantic-comedy luck of the two finding each another. It's much tougher, and ultimately useless, to buy everything else about this fairy tale of self-reinvention in a stalled economy. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 2, 2011
The film is sometimes gentle to the point of blandness, but it's never flimsy. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJul 1, 2011
Next semester, the stars should drop Speech 217 and enroll in Chemistry 101 – they dearly need some. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 30, 2011
I had a migraine when I started watching Larry Crowne, and by the end, it went away. None of this quite adds up to a recommendation, but it's close. Very close. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 30, 2011
It's a light and breezy, recession-themed romantic comedy; "Up in the Air" without all the angst and introspection. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJun 30, 2011
Larry Crowne isn't a movie for adults. It's a movie for adults who don't like things with screens and keyboards. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 30, 2011
I'm not quite saying that the unabashed squareness and silliness of Larry Crowne are negatives. They're almost admirable in themselves, and certainly constitute a selling point. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJun 30, 2011
Inside this film, a poignant and personal story is struggling to get out. But it's couched in such awkward sentiments that it can't emerge. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 30, 2011
The movie falls flat, playing like the best-cast bland romantic comedy you've ever seen. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 30, 2011
The screenplay carries blandness to a point beyond tedium. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsJun 30, 2011
The story feels half-considered, the relationships thin, and the direction visually indifferent. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttJun 28, 2011
Every scene is on the prowl for laughs at the expense of the inherent drama in the lives of its colorful characters. Read full review
45
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJun 30, 2011
In the early scenes of Larry Crowne, Hanks' Larry is so assertively regular he almost comes off as a special-needs child - grinning into his coffee-cup in the big-box-store break room, he has all the sexual allure of Forrest Gump. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 4, 2011
Larry Crowne is worryingly light on laughs, yet it never dares to worry too much about the plight of its central figure. [11 & 18 July 2011, p.100]
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 1, 2011
It put-puts along like a moped in busy traffic, content to amble around but not go anywhere. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 30, 2011
A rom-com fairy tale so tepid and well behaved that watching it feels like being stuck in traffic as giddy joy-riders in the opposite lane break the speed limit. You have little choice but to cool your heels and pretend that the parched crabgrass in the median is a field of flowers. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsJun 30, 2011
Edgeless, it takes a wistful, hopeful approach to heartbreak and job loss. That's sweet, but when it comes to unemployment-themed cinema, I'll take the greater realism of last year's "The Company Men" or this year's "Everything Must Go" over Hanks's too rosy vision of life after the pink slip. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 28, 2011
Though both lead actors are able to coast for a while on their natural charm, it's evident by the soppy finale that their "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Pretty Woman" salad days are long past. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMark OlsenJun 28, 2011
With its eager-to-please congeniality, it almost works, but with a pacing that is at once comfortably assured and frustratingly slack, like holding exactly to the speed limit on a stretch of open road, Larry Crowne never quite comes to life. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensJul 2, 2011
This script - a collaboration between Hanks and Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" - would need multiple punch-up sessions to attain mediocrity. Roberts and Hanks aren't just prevented from playing their A games; they're never even taken off the bench. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 30, 2011
Larry Crowne is an inside-out movie, acceptable around the edges but hollow and shockingly unconvincing at its core. When that core is two of the biggest movie stars around - Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts - it's an especially dispiriting situation. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJun 30, 2011
There's some cute stuff involving Hanks and some teenagers who tool around campus on scooters, but an utter lack of chemistry between him and Roberts dooms the movie. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 7, 2011
Larry Crowne is more than a missed opportunity. It's alarmingly, depressingly out of touch. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJul 5, 2011
Congenial is the word for Larry Crowne, but it's as flat as an ironing board. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 30, 2011
It's the neediest movie of 2011, and one of the phoniest. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineNick SchagerJun 28, 2011
At least Roberts has some star wattage to burn; her megawatt smile is the only thing that ultimately pierces, however faintly, the film's blinding schmaltz. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 30, 2011
A slight, facile, and ultimately yawn worthy romantic comedy, and one of the most obvious if unexpected missteps in Hanks' career. Read full review
20
VarietyJustin ChangJun 28, 2011
Movie stars may be less valued than they used to be, but it's still puzzling to see Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts stuck in a romantic comedy as flat-footed and tone deaf as Larry Crowne. Read full review
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