Tom's house
Can someone explain what Tom did when he gave the bank loan officer the manilla envelope and keys to his house and said he would be out in 30 days.
shareHe was volutarily putting his house into forclosure. You probably get some government perk for doing that yourself instead of making the bank do it. BTW, how does someone who essentially worked at Walmart, afford a nice house in a nice neighborhood? He got "downsized" from his Walmart job? I think any job other than the one he lost would be a step up, including flipping burgers. Man, this is a terrible film.
share@chas437,
Valid points.
It seemed a bit of stretch that Larry would suddenly understand the complexities of Home foreclosures after taking 2 months of Econ 101. And there's no such thing as Econ 101 anyway, you take Macro Economics and Micro Economics.
The whole thing of his house was a big plot hole for me. Like you said, he was working as a "Team-Leader/Assistant" manager of a Target/Walmart type of place so how much money could he have been making $10-15 dollars an hour??? My friend had a job like that and he could barely afford rent for a small apartment.
I guess you can rationalize that his wife worked and they both paid for the house But what type of work did his wife do etc??? We never know because this script is so poorly written. But why the hell would he keep the house after they were divorced anyway? That makes no sense and there's no way he could afford to live there after the divorce let alone own a Chevy Suburban and big flat screen t.v.
Just a very poorly written film all together and really an insult to people who are actually struggling.
Agreed, maybe Tom Hanks should take Screen Writing 101. Another ridiculous thing in the film, what neighborhood association would allow a person to run a non stop flea market in their front yard? Of course the answer is that it would NEVER be permited.
This screenplay is so bad it makes you wonder if Tom Hanks has the slightest clue about real life in America. As you say it shows a complete lack of understanding of the plight of unemployed Americans who can't pay their bills. Corporate down-sizing isn't people getting fired from Walmart, its people who have worked for decades at high paying jobs being axed. Tom's answer to unemployed American's problems? Get a hipster make over, a toupee, a scooter, take some High School level Community College classes, then ride around on your scooter with Julia Roberts waving and smiling at people.
That's why I say this film is beyond bad, its insulting.
@chas437,
Oh I completely agree, excellent points, this film is so out of touch with reality.
I think why people really hate this film is that it's so condescending and insulting. You're exactly right people get downsized from high paying jobs and are forced to work at Target or Umart. The whole premise of that scene was ridiculous.
I think it was also heavily marketed as an answer to the recession etc which makes it even worse and even more condescending.
The Cedric the Entertainer permanent yard sale was just ridiculous.
The script is so bad and juvenile and so out of touch with anything in reality.
Tom's answers like you said are beyond bad. This film is trite, glib and insulting. If life was only as easy as a hipster make-over, a toupee, scooter, community college.
The whole community college solution is insulting as well. I know people with degrees from major universities who have been out of work for years and have had to settle for working at U-mart type places.
Larry never took a college coarse and then he's suddenly an economic genius???
Guys, you are missing the point. Of course, the movie is out of touch with reality! It's a MOVIE! It's entertainment! Why would you want a movie to BE in touch with reality? Geez, real life is a bummer! Remember the line: Life's a bitch. Then, you die.
Why would you want to sit for an hour and a half and watch a movie about that?
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In response to what homeowners/neighborhood association would allow a nonstop yardsale/flea market.... I agree that none i've ever heard of would. But who says there is one in their neighborhood?
Also, Larry said he was downsized, but that isn't what happened. He was fired because of U Mart's policy of not holding back any employee's advancement opportunities regardless of race, creed, gender, etc. Larry couldn't advance any more in the company without a degree, so in order to be compliant with their policy they had to fire him. For whatever reason, Larry told his neighbor he was downsized.
It's not just other home owners/neighborhood association there are zoning laws and police departments. You can't just turn your house/yard into an everyday flea market. The non-stop yard sale was just stupid and ridiculous.
What does Cedric do when it rains, bring everything inside?? Does he bring everything inside every night and then bring out everything in the morning. Again ridiculous and insulting to an average person's intelligence.
I don't really understand why Larry has to give up his house because at the point in the story he's working full-time at the restaurant. I would imagine his salary as a cook is roughly the same as a "team-leader" at Target/Umart.
As far as being "downsized", you're right he's never really downsized he's just fired for a ridiculous reason. His firing in the beginning is not even plausible. He's an assistant manager who's making about $13 dollars an hour and he's the hardest working best employee in the place. He doesn't have any college so he has nowhere to go. He's a big box retailer's wet dream. Why would you ever want to fire a person like that. Makes no sense like most of this movie.
I am just responding to what you posted. There wasn't a mention of a HOA, so we can only assume that there wasn't one.
Their reasoning for firing him makes sense, in a monolithic letter of the law sort of way. It is against their policy to hold back any employee from advancement because of race, gender, education, sexual preference, etc. But they can't promote him anymore because of their policy of requiring a degree. What better way to handle the situation other than firing him? The policy might not make sense, but they way they handled it with regards to adhering to the policy does.
@Christ Whore,
Well you're 100% correct in that Larry wasn't "downsized". Obviously this was just an attempt to utilize a buzz word.
Their logic doesn't make any sense. Larry isn't being discriminated against, there's just an educational requirement of college matriculation for a managerial position. You wouldn't fire a teacher's aide because he/she didn't go to college or have a bachelor's degree etc and therefore couldn't be a teacher?
If that's their policy anyway why would they even put Larry Crowne into a "team leader" position in the first place? Makes no sense, show biz people live in a bubble and have no clue how average people live. That story line looks like it was written in about 2 hours and tacked on so they could market it to people as a recession movie.
I worked in an upscale retail store, a Nordstroms type of place for 11 years. They basically had two types of tracks of team leaders/assistant managers. One track were the Larry Crowne types who never went to college and were 30-50 year old. They loved these people because they were extremely loyal and basically did the same job as the manager for $12-13 an hour. The other track were college team leaders who would eventually be put into some form of managerial training. Occasionally you would see a Larry Crowne type be made into a manager. There were also some team leaders with degrees who for whatever reason didn't want to be managers and just stayed on as team leaders. Some team leaders actually left and went back in sales because there was more money in those positions. We actually had quite a few commissioned sales people that made more money than the full-time managers.
Usually these stores offer some form of tuition reimbursement for taking college courses yet in the Larry Crowne world this never comes up.
Also they didn't have to fire Larry, they could have just given him a lesser job. They also could have given the Larry the option to start taking part time classes thus fulfilling their matriculation requirement.
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@FordMadoxFordMadox,
A 20 year navy pension is only 1/2 salary which isn't a lot for an enlisted man like Larry Crowne. Larry served in the Navy from the mid 1970's to the mid 1990's so you're talking about something like a $800-1000 dollar a month pension from the Navy. He makes about $12 dollars an hour at Target/Umart so all together Larry makes something like $34-36,000 a year. There is no way he could afford a mortgage/utilities/property taxes/insurance for a house in the San Fernando Valley by himself. Most of his pension would go just to pay the property taxes on that house.
It makes absolutely no sense that Larry would or could "buy-out" his ex-wife and attempt to pay that mortgage by himself. Impossible. And then on top of that Larry is able to afford an SUV, flat screen t.v. etc.
Also, Larry stays in the Navy for 20 years as a cook? Then he leaves the Navy to work at Umart???? Wtf? Ridiculous.
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@FordMadoxFordMadox,
Yeah the Navy Pension was an odd omission in this film. It's weird because earlier in the film he tells someone he "almost" did 20 years in the Navy. Then later in the film he says he was in the Navy 20 years.
The military odd is very in that you have to do at least 20 years to get any kind of pension. If you do 19 years two months, you're out of luck.
It's just sloppy script writing.
A chief's base pay (e-7) was over 2200 a month in 1995 so retirement would be 1100 plus the 42% in cola increases over the last 15 years (I looked it up) years so it would higher than you are posting at about 1621 a month, if he was e-8 it would be 1775 and e-9 would be 1988 (again with cola increases). If he was cwo it would be more. Right now you can get a 100000 dollar house in the us for about 400 a month. Even if he retired an e7 his retirement would probably pay for the house and vehicle, I see it as very doable with the job. GI loan would be no down. Losing the job though would make it very hard.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj102/1911auto/1-5.jpg
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/news/cola/automatic-cola.htm
I was not an MS as far as an ms having a job like that I can see it, in fact I have known of retired military working at walmart. I DID see a lot of retired military at the postal service, where I worked, humping mail because it was the best retirement at their jobs would get them and that was because of veterans preference. MS is one of those jobs. I'm not trying to belittle any job in the military but ms's pretty much just read recipe cards to make every meal. That's it, it doesn't get you far on the outside. My job didn't either. I know of retired military that sell cars also, pretty much anything to supplement the retirement.
Saludos desde Edomx!
i think he spent 20 years at old navy.
βCan't go wrong with taupe."- Wynn Duffy
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Larrys neighborhood was filled with 1950's ranch homes. Older neighborhoods typically dont have HOA's as they barely existed in the 1950's.
Most towns DO have rules pertaining to yard sales, but usually someone has to call in a complaint. This actually happened on my street.
Then again, its only a movie... :)
it's got style.
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You're right about the neighborhood not having an HOA, marx686. It is obviously a very tight-knit working class community where many of the residents are no longer working and trying somehow to make ends meet. Everyone understands, no one will complain. (You could not pay me to live anywhere with an HOA.) As far as "downsizing" goes, where did you ever get the idea that it only applies to upper management? Now four years later, I bet many of you know plenty of people who lost their jobs at every level. And walking away from a house was quite common back then. Some people even walked away from their kids, feeling that foster homes would be better for them than living in cars.
shareCant believe it but we bought an HOA house in a mountain lake community in CA. Its not that bad and they dont let the residents park rusty trailers, RV's and cars on the lawn. So they have their uses, as much as we detest the idea!
share[deleted]
[deleted]
that's probably going to be the focus of the sequel.
"You have to live life to its full chorizo!"-Mario Bataliπ
Did you watch the movie at all? Or did you forget he was in the navy for 20 years? Thus is how he can afford what he has....
sharehe should have installed a pool.
πSeason's Greetings!π
He was volutarily putting his house into forclosure. You probably get some government perk for doing that yourself instead of making the bank do it. BTW, how does someone who essentially worked at Walmart, afford a nice house in a nice neighborhood? He got "downsized" from his Walmart job? I think any job other than the one he lost would be a step up, including flipping burgers. Man, this is a terrible film.
not that i'm necessarily defending this film but he did serve in the military..so he probably got military pay share
Good point.
sharehttp://www2.highlandstoday.com/news/highlands-news/2010/mar/14/lc-strategic-foreclosure-101-ar-320806/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/16/the-new-face-of-foreclosure-strategic-defaults/
Gene Kessler, 67, may be the new face of mortgage default. The tech industry retiree is in the process of walking away from the home he purchased for $166,000 in 2004 in a small town 75 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Its value has plummeted to $111,000, wiping out Kessler's $45,000 down payment and leaving him with a mortgage that's more than the home is worth. He stopped paying the loan six months ago, and estimates he'll have to vacate by March 2012.
But Kessler isn't in financial trouble, and he could afford the monthly payments. He has no other debts and two pensions from former employers, as well as Social Security. He also has a woodworking hobby, and runs a small business selling the artisan lamps he makes in galleries. He's single now, and his two children are grown and gone.
"I was looking for a way to get back to a larger city, and this was the only way I could get out of this house," says Kessler, who paid $800 to YouWalkAway.com to help guide him through the process known as strategic default. He's anticipating a move to a warmer climate and a more active art and dating scene in Santa Fe, N.M.
Very pertinent article. Thanks!
Cheese fries...next time.
http://www2.highlandstoday.com/news/highlands-news/2010/mar/14/lc-strategic-foreclosure-101-ar-320806/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/16/the-new-face-of-foreclosure-strategic-defaults/
Gene Kessler, 67, may be the new face of mortgage default. The tech industry retiree is in the process of walking away from the home he purchased for $166,000 in 2004 in a small town 75 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Its value has plummeted to $111,000, wiping out Kessler's $45,000 down payment and leaving him with a mortgage that's more than the home is worth. He stopped paying the loan six months ago, and estimates he'll have to vacate by March 2012.
But Kessler isn't in financial trouble, and he could afford the monthly payments. He has no other debts and two pensions from former employers, as well as Social Security. He also has a woodworking hobby, and runs a small business selling the artisan lamps he makes in galleries. He's single now, and his two children are grown and gone.
"I was looking for a way to get back to a larger city, and this was the only way I could get out of this house," says Kessler, who paid $800 to YouWalkAway.com to help guide him through the process known as strategic default. He's anticipating a move to a warmer climate and a more active art and dating scene in Santa Fe, N.M.
wow...so this is the target audience for larry crowne.
how many people are there like this? i'd say about five. share
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He was 20 years military, he would have a 20 year retirement pension. That would have been better than his wages at his job AND include benefits plus a gi loan for the house.
Saludos desde Edomx!