Hopes To Corner Fickle Trekkie Crowd With George Takei Cameo
“I told my agents that I wasn’t going to play pussies anymore,” Tom Hanks declared in a recent interview with W Magazine, and if this second trailer for “Larry Crowne” is anything to go by, we are in for a gritty, bone-crunching career makeover. Just kidding. It’s a sweet, gentle romantic comedy co-starring Julia Roberts, with America’s sweethearts backed up by an absurd coalition of talent, including Peter Scolari, Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Jon Seda, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Rami Malek, Malcolm Barrett, Maria Canals Barrera, Holmes Osborne, Pam Grier, Grace Gummer, Rita Wilson, Dale Dye, Bob Stephenson and…George Takei, though this writer would bet we’ve seen 75% of the performance of the latter in the trailer.
‘Crowne’, Hanks first theatrical feature as director (he co-wrote the script with Nia Vardalos) since 1996’s “That Thing You Do!,” follows the titular character (Hanks) who loses his job and is forced go to back to community college, with Roberts playing his teacher. It’s like “Community” but broad and super boring! Love naturally blooms between two beautiful, middle-class people with minor character flaws. The trailer also recycles much of the “physical” comedy and painfully obvious set-ups for maximum awkwardness seen in the first one. Also, Tom Hanks totally makes out with Julia Roberts. You can already see money pouring in from the coveted 35-49 segment.
Check out the official poster (sigh) and the trailer below. “Larry Crowne” opens on July 1st. [The Film Stage]