Larry Crowne & Teeth

Quick movie review: Larry Crowne with Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks rated only a C+ for Entertainment Weekly, and our local reviewer for The Arizona Republic thought it worth only 2½ out of 5 stars, saying it “has its moments but it doesn’t earn its laughs—or its dramas. A disappointment.” Hmm? How can any movie starring Julia and Tom be a disappointment? The laughs were muted but honest and didn’t need to depend on sexual innuendo or vulgar language or toilet jokes or farting, barfing, or diarrhea, as do too many of today’s blockbusters, like Hangover I and II, The Little Fockers, and Bridesmaids (although Bridesmaids had other very funny moments aside from the dress shop scene). When I go to see a romantic comedy, I don’t need high drama or hilarity. I want an honest romance that makes me feel good, as in Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill, or Pretty Woman. And Larry Crowne, although not quite in the league of those just mentioned, still delivers.

And for those of you who knew about my impending teeth extractions and were concerned for me, don’t be. It was a . . . piecea cake. Well, okay, more like a chocolate shake. I was more worried about it than I should have been. I mean, five teeth. All at once. Three were broken crowns and were down close to the gum line and two were in between the broken crowns and needed to go to accommodate a partial plate for upper left and right around my front teeth. I went in, got three or four shots of Novocain, opened my mouth, and push pull crash bang—five minutes later the surgeon was done. He said he’d put in some dissolvable stitches but everything was fine. I said, “What?! You mean you’re done?” He put in my temporary partial plate and some gauze and said goodbye. And $1200 later I was out of there. And yes, a huge DQ chocolate shake because I’d been such a good boy.