Comedic puff piece 'Larry Crowne' released on DVD

Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts team up for a light comedy, leading these movies that arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week.

"Larry Crowne" (Universal/Blu-ray, 2011, PG-13, $34.98). Hanks directed this comedic puff piece, his first such effort since "That Thing You Do," which was also marshmallow light but a bit more satisfying. "Larry Crowne" isn't bad but it barely registers.

Hanks plays the title character here, a high school-educated, middle-age blue-collar guy who loses his wife, his job, his car and his house thanks to our downsized economy. So he enrolls in a city college, where meets a bunch of younger disenfranchised eccentrics and falls for a teacher, Julia Roberts, an alcoholic in a bad marriage.

The plotting is dark but the tone is ever so light and sunny, which might have worked if the script (by Hanks and Nia Vardalos, writer/star of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding") was funnier and had some juice.

The supporting characters are played by an array of strong, familiar actors but one wishes for the spirit of Preston Sturges to bring it alive. Think "Sullivan's Travels" or "Hail the Conquering Hero." The material cries out for biting satire not toothless romance.

Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, featurettes (also on DVD, $29.98)

"Beginners" (Focus/Universal/Blu-ray, 2011; R for language, sex; $34.98). Christopher Plummer is terrific and steals the show as a gay man who cuts loose late in life after the death of his wife. He attempts to help his sullen son (Ewan McGregor) embark on a healthy relationship with a woman — but the lad is nearing 40 and, until his dad comes out of the closet, he never understands the chilly example of marriage given by his parents. Pleasing to the art-house crowd (and critics), but in terms of plot and emotion it's all over the place.

Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes (also on DVD, $29.98)

"Flypaper" (IFC/Blu-ray, 2011, $29.98). Convoluted, extremely bloody and profane farce stars Patrick Dempsey as a troubled bank customer with a crush on teller Ashley Judd. They are caught up in a pair of simultaneous robberies, one a smart, high-tech safecracking job and the other by a pair of rubes who just want to blast open the ATMs. Large cast of likeable actors trapped in a shrill, over-plotted comic thriller with too many twists and a desperately limited vocabulary.

Extras: widescreen, feaurettes, trailers

"The Topp Twins" (Disinformation, 2009, $19.98). The description is zany enough to give you an idea about the tenor of this offbeat, amusing documentary: "The story of Jools and Lynda Topp, the world's only yodeling country singing and comedy lesbian twins."

Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, featurettes, trailer

"When Strangers Click: Five Stories from the Internet" (Disinformation, 2011, $19.98). Documentary about the experiences of five East Coast Americans looking for love in all the wrong places … er, on the Internet.

Extras: widescreen

EMAIL: hicks@desnews.com