Larry Crowne ***

Even though I knew I was being manipulated, and even though I knew that going to college in middle age after losing your job would not mean falling in with the cool crowd, and even though I knew that the chances of getting Julia Roberts as a professor were exceedingly slim, I still found myself smiling throughout "Larry Crowne." Tom Hanks, as star/writer/director suffuses this movie with his own sunny personality, and you just want to believe that good guys will win out in the end, and that hard work in college will pay off, even if it didn't when you gave your all to the big box store that used you up and tossed you aside. It's a fairy tale version of life after the harsh reality of contemporary retail capitalism, but one you want to embrace and enjoy. Supporting players are all fine, and the pacing is good, which speak well to Hanks' skill as a director in what I think is his first time behind the camera. But the script is too weak to support all of the superstructure, and wastes a great opportunity for Hanks and Roberts, who do have on-screen chemistry, to really connect.