Hanks and Roberts Have Awkward Encounter in First Clip From 'Larry Crowne'

Here's an odd recipe: take the foreign kid from That 70's Show, throw him in with the stars of Charlie Wilson's War, give them a script co-written by the My Big Fat Greek Wedding lady, under the direction of the guy who did That Thing You Do!, and give it a title that sounds confusingly similar to a Steve McQueen movie (which was also remade as a pretty great Pierce Brosnan/Rene Russo vehicle). Well, okay, so at least a couple of the people I just referenced are Tom Hanks: he co-wrote, directed, and co-stars in Larry Crowne, which does not seem to involve museum heists whatsoever.

Hanks was on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night, and among many other things he talked about his upcoming movie. It's only his second turn as a director (his first, the previously-mentioned That Thing You Do!, was 15 years ago). It's co-written by Nia Vardalos, and co-stars Julia Roberts and Wilmer Valderrama. Hanks was also kind enough to show a clip from the film, which we've got for you to check out below.

Larry Crowne is about a middle-aged man (Hanks) who reinvents himself by going back to college after losing his job. Unsurprisingly, he develops a romance with one of his professors (Roberts). I haven't found much of a description of Valderrama's character, but presumably he'll play another student at the school. The film, which will be released July 1, also features Taraji P. Henson, Pam Grier, Bryan Cranston (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle), and co-wrter Nia Vardalos.

The clip below includes Hanks' introduction to and description of it, so I'll let him do the rest of the talking. The actual clip starts shortly after the one-minute mark, if you want to skip the Hanks and Kimmel banter (though it's worth watching to see Hanks getting excited for his new pet project). Oh, and you get to see Julia Roberts sing.