Fridae

Nearly 15 years ago, Tom Hanks made his first film as a director, That Thing You Do! It was a winning little film that spawned even a Top 10 hit on the radio of the same title, not least because it was about the rise and fall of a fictional one-hit wonder band from the late 50s to early 60s, set in an idealized, Happy Days version of the era. That film was winning not just because of its setting and premise, but also because it showed Tom Hanks’ savvy use of his Boomer Icon status.

As a Boomer Icon, Hanks’ most famous roles as astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13, the titular Holy Fool of Forrest Gump, and the cowboy Woody in the Toy Story trilogy are emblematic of that unpretentious all-American charm associated with the years 1946 to 1964 - a period of unprecedented prosperity and idealism for the United States despite its widespread conformism. Dominant in society was the belief that the country would reward you amply if you worked hard, served your country, and played by the rules, especially if that country was America. And in spite of its flaws, America delivered.

Forty years later, it’s a far less idealistic time for all involved. Nevertheless in his second directorial effort, Larry Crowne, Tom Hanks sticks by his guns to create a film that despite the current recession looming in the background, has a simplistic, uncynical, terribly good-hearted premise and could pass for a spinoff of Happy Days indeed.

The eponymous Larry Crowne is played by Hanks as Forrest Gump with 30 more IQ points, but the same generous, hardworking, All-American spirit. Like Forrest, he has served his country (albeit as a peacetime Navy Cook as opposed to a ‘Nam vet), and after leaving the service worked in a U-Mart Store. As the latest round of corporate downsizing makes it way, he is retrenched on top of having to cope with the aftermath of a painful divorce. His neighbour Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer) suggests he find a way to reinvent himself: through the value of education!

His fees in all likelihood paid by the GI Bill, Crowne starts attending East Valley Community College, one of those college campuses that seems ripped straight out of a pamphlet rather than real life. Here professors actually care about educating their students rather than aiming for tenure, students don’t form bullying cliques and clubs don’t compete with each other for supremacy. In fact, it’s so inclusive Larry as its oldest student soon finds himself falling in (once he ditches his oil-guzzling SUV) with a club of Scooter-lovers who seem to resemble a biker gang except they ride scooters, have no anti-social proclivities and are just fun-loving. The Scooters are led by Gordo (Wilmer Valderrama) and the winsome Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). While there, he also wins the heart of Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts), his speech professor who is stuck in a dead end marriage with a smarmy sleazebag.

Still, the movie has no real antagonists, and the plot in classic sitcom fashion consists of Hanks as a Fine Blunt Nice Guy surmounting a series of everyday obstacles by engaging in the values of hard work and playing by the rules, helped by others who also work hard and play by the rules. Sure, that makes the movie unsurprising and most of the characters feel more like bunches of quirks than real people, but Hanks’ solid direction keeps the jokes coming and the film’s pace never flags. Tom Hanks’ second film as director is best seen as a very long but enjoyable sitcom pilot, Forrest Gump’s College Years anyone?