Larry Quinn is the main antagonist from The Cat in the Hat.
Appearance[]
Larry is a tall man with black hair. Larry is bent and out of shape and appears to lack teeth. He also has chest hairs.
Larry first wore a purple suit with matching pants. He wore white dress shoes, vanilla clip-on tie, and a white collar with his suit. He once wore glasses. Larry uses this outfit to appear under successful employment and an ideal boyfriend in Joan's eyes, hoping to win her hand in marriage and gain an easy life by mooching off her wealth.
Later on and for the rest of the movie, Larry wears on dark green jacket, with an undershirt underneath and yellow sweats. He wore black shoes. This outfit was covered in purple goo at the end of the film.
History[]
Lawrence is first introduced when he returns Nevins, the Waldens' dog who escaped due to Conrad's stunts. While his sister Sally and mother Joan were fond of Lawrence, Conrad holds him in contempt, calling him Larry, which he dislikes. Larry suggests sending Conrad to military school to straighten his behavior. Joan declines, thinking it wouldn't be right for Conrad. In a hushed voice, Larry states his "understanding" about the stress she has of doing her job and raising her children before instantly explaining the military school for Conrad. Before Joan responds, the phone rings and she leaves to answer, much to Quinn's dismay.
Conrad, having heard the exchange, angrily proclaims that he wasn't going to military school. In a hissing voice, Larry responds by saying that he doesn't like him either. He displays his arrogance by verbally abusing Conrad and explaining his plans for his mother. Just when he was about to berate Conrad some more for calling him Larry, Larry reverts to his docile demeanor when he senses Joan's returning presence. Larry leaves, claiming to have a business meeting. As Joan left for her office, she wishes Larry luck with his job. As soon as Joan left, the man exited his yellow convertible and reentered his home, monitored by Conrad.
Later on, Larry visited the Walden household. He witnessed Conrad and Sally jumping on the living room couch. As Sally explained she was telling Conrad to get off the couch, Larry merely told her loudly "NOBODY LIKES A SUCK-UP!!". He then left to raid the fridge without the children's permission, making a sandwich and carrying bottles of beer. Larry displayed his poor manners by belching in the kids' faces, merely saying "good bread". Little did he know, the children had a guest: the Cat in the Hat. While the Cat cling to the ceiling to hide from Larry, he started scratching himself. This stirred Larry's cat allergies, who started sneezing uncontrollably from the dander. Larry then urgently left the house, repeatedly sneezing much to Conrad and Sally's amusement.
Larry's true character is seen for the first (and most prominent) time once he is inside his house. He is an unemployed deadbeat with dentures and a large gut concealed with a corset. Too lazy and careless to find a job, he is in financial debt and lives in a cluttered house. Thus his goal of marrying Joan is really so he can mooch off her and her fortune. As his television is taken by a trio of repo men, much to his displeasure, Larry notices that Nevins is loose again. He immediately reports this to Joan, who is dissatisfied of the news. Quinn assures he'll retrieve the dog and brings up the notion about placing Conrad in the military academy, which Joan is still hesitant on. She states "Conrad's like you, Lawrence. He's very...sensitive...", while her indolent boyfriend picks his nose in contempt at this, but reluctantly agrees she should consider. Larry just replies "I'll get the dog. I'll right over!" before quickly hanging up to pick his belly button and fart. This uncaring response causes Joan to grow mistrustful of Lawrence, suspecting he has ulterior motives about sending her son into military school.
Larry tracks down Nevins and kidnaps the dog. He joyfully sings about getting rid of Conrad. But Nevins spoils his celebration by urinating on his taco, much to his disgust and outrage. Arriving in town square, he gloats to Nevins that when Joan sees the latter got out again, she will send her son and pet away while Larry moves in as her husband, gleefully laughing at this prospect before a meter maid writes him a ticket. Before he can enter the office, the Cat, disguised as a hippie, gets him to sign a petition with an over-sized pen. This lets the humanoid feline gain possession of the dog. He and kids run away with Larry in hot pursuit. They lose him in a party club in a telephone booth. With the three nowhere in sight, Quinn reports to Joan, convincing her to check the house.
Larry repeatedly rushes Joan to hurry, eager to get her children in trouble. Joan becomes annoying with Larry's nagging. Before they can get any further to the neighborhood, they're pulled over by Thing 1 & 2, disguised as police officers. Seeing the sight of his car, Quinn urges Joan to continue, only to be hushed. Refusing to allow Conrad, Sally, Joan, or the Things to spoil his plans, Larry takes matters into his own hands and hijacks the police motorcycle, telling his girlfriend to meet him at her home. This behavior makes Joan become even more doubtful of Larry's character and her trust in him.
Larry ambushes Sally and Conrad as they are about re-enter their home. Sadistically relishing the trouble the two will be in with their mother, he orders them into the house, ignoring Conrad's warning. They enter to find the house surprisingly tidy. Larry's cat allergies act up, hinting the presence of the Cat. Larry is startled by the sight of na enormous cat, sneezing while uttering "Y-You're a giant.....CAT!!!". As he staggered backwards, he revealed the illusion of the fMother of All Messes. The sleazy neighbor plummeted to his death into a purple sea, probably drowning. Quinn was revealed to have survived the fall after Conrad restored the house. He is pumped (rather pooped) out of the house, completely covered in purple slime, with some splashing on his face.
When Joan arrives home to be welcomed home by her children and sitter, she is greeted and startled by a slimy Larry entering behind her. Angered over the humiliation he suffered, he tells her that the house was living, the walls were fake, he fell off a ledge, and the Cat. But Joan finds it hard to believe Larry's story as the house is normal and clean. Larry tries to make a last attempt to make Joan enroll Conrad in military school, reminding her of Conrad's recklessness and asking who's side she'll take. She calmly stated that while Conrad makes irresponsible decisions that provoke her to pull her hair out, he was her son and she believed in him. She then politely told Larry to leave her property. Larry is horrified that Joan is dumping him, repeatedly whimpering her name. When Joan rips his military school pamphlet and glues it on his sticky chest, Larry breaks down crying on his knees. He accidentally sneezes into his hands right in front of Joan, much to her repulse. Larry asks Joan to marry him, but she responds shutting him out, leaving him in tears. Sally and Conrad are elated that Larry Quinn won't be marrying their mother.
Personality[]
Lawrence briefly appeared as a well-mannered and sophisticated person, but he immediately unmasked himself as a greedy, cunning manipulator, trying to persuade Joan to send her disobedient son to military school so that he can gain an easy life and spoil himself with her money. He also dislikes it when the child calls him Larry. He is also arrogant, believing himself to be better than other people and entitled to do certain actions, evidenced by his stealing food in the house. Larry dislikes Conrad, since he knows too much about him and his intentions for Joan, and is more than content to insult and verbally abuse them.
Later on, he showed crude manners, burping in front of Sally and Conrad. When seen his house, he was revealed to be a disgusting slob with poor hygiene and too lazy to work for a living. Larry only wanted to marry his girlfriend, Joan, to live off her wealth and fortune due to being poor and a slacker. Despite his laziness, he was ambitious, seeing anything as an opportunity. As his goals were looking successful, Larry became more callous and bossy towards Joan, showing no care for her feelings about sending her child away and being domineering, urging her to hurry home. Whenever things don't go his way, he takes drastic measures. When Joan broke up with him and cancelled his plans for Conrad, he was horrified and became emotional. When she rejected him and slammed the door in his face after being grossed out by his behavior, he was heard sobbing.
Trivia[]
- Joan likely found out about Larry's sloppiness when he sneezed into his hands, judging by her face as she shuts the door. It's possible she was told of his raids in her fridge.
- Conrad seems to know that Larry wasn't who he appeared to be. He called him a "total phony" and watched him pretending to head to his fake job.
- Quinn has dynamic interactions with Sally. They started out being on good terms, but Larry later reveals he was just taking advantage of her at first and actually hates her as much as he hates Conrad, and burps in her face. He also intends to get her in trouble along with Conrad with her mom.
- Larry seems to survive off of Joan and her family. He once stole from her fridge while she wasn't home and without her children's permission.
- Larry's hairstyles change in a few scenes. When in public, his hair is neat and tame. But when in his house and covered in slime, it was messy and unruly.
- When the Cat was disguised as a hippie, Quinn's allergies didn't stir.
- Larry uses a girdle to look slimmer, which seems causes his big belly discomfort and pain, and uses false teeth, that he stores in a glass.
- Larry's home is a pigsty, old food is on the tables and dirty laundry is on his couch and floors. It seems he hasn't payed the electric bill.
- Larry seems to be overweight from eating and sitting around watching TV. His favorite programs seems to be watching a woman named Mitzy Flynn.
- He has wheezing laugh and hisses for drama.
- He whimpers Joan's name when things don't go his way.
- Larry has trophies in his living room, meaning that while he was unemployed now, he was presumably successful when he was younger before becoming unemployed, leading to his laziness, greed, arrogance, and entitlement as an adult.
- He owns and drives a yellow convertible, which repossessed in a deleted scene.
- In the deleted scenes, Larry encounters the repo men who took his television. He intends to buy a larger one and pay for it using Joan's money and placing it in Conrad's room. He also finds the kids in here. After he locked out of the Waldens' house, he tries to take his anger on Nevins, who is inspecting a purple puddle of tar. However, he is humiliated when a larger dog tears his pants off and chases him through the neighborhood while repo men tow his car away.
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