Tom Hanks demonstrates the refund - Hollywood style

The actor gets attention for refunding money to viewers who didn't like his latest film.

Tom Hanks has been setting standards in Hollywood since he first pranced across a massive piano.

There was Philadelphia, which broke many cinematic barriers with its rather upsetting subject matter. Then there was Forrest Gump, in which his brave, honest and slightly dim all-American lead character was pitted against the world with tear-jerking effect. Now, it seems, he's set a further precedent that directors and actors would do well to follow.

According to the American gossip rag The National Enquirer, Hanks met a couple in LA who had just been to see his latest flop, Larry Crowne. Asking them whether they had enjoyed it, they said they hadn't (and rightly so - it was rubbish). Rather than throw a temper tantrum and wave his arms about while shouting about his "art", Hank is alleged to have apologised to the couple and then refunded their ticket money to the tune of US$25 (Dh92).

While $25 is small fry to a man who rakes in roughly enough to buy a small Pacific island with each film, it's still a rather gentlemanly act. Unfortunately, Hanks may well have opened up the floodgates, not just for the others who saw Larry Crowne (considering the reviews, they could number in the hundreds), but for the millions out there who might feel somewhat disappointed in the cinematic yield they've received in return for their hard-earned money.

Surely, if Hanks is returning ticket money for Larry Crowne, then M Night Shyamalan should do the same for everything he's done since The Sixth Sense; Steven Spielberg has a wad to hand over for the last Indiana Jones; and Michael Bay - he of the Transformers franchise - could well be facing bankruptcy.