Elizabethtown (14 October 2005)
directed by Cameron Crowe
starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Judy Greer
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MPAA rating: Studio: Paramount Pictures, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Vinyl Films Script: Cameron Crowe Music: Nancy Wilson Running time: 123 minutes Tags: cremation; death; Family Crisis; funeral; road trip; Romance; suicide; urns Tactical strength: [7/10]
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for language and some sexual references
Drew (Orlando Bloom) designs high-tech sports shoes. At least he did before his company had to recall one of his designs, costing the company nine-hundred million dollars and Drew his job. Drew goes home intending to kill himself, but he gets a desperate call from his sister: Drew's father has died in Kentucky, and Drew needs to take care of the funeral arrangements. So Drew puts off suicide for the trip to Kentucky.
On the flight from Oregon, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a super-perky flight attendant who passes the time on the near-empty flight with chit chat and gives Drew a map to his father's hometown, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Drew meets his father's family, whom he has never met before, and feels totally out of place. His west-coast cultural expectations don't give Drew the tools to deal with southern hospitality. Later that night, Drew calls Claire from his hotel room. They talk throughout the night and agree to meet to watch the sunrise.
The remainder of Elizabethtown shows Drew's development along three different lines carefully and skillfully woven together: his (psychological) recovery from his corporate failure, his developing relationship with his father's family, and his developing romance with Claire. Almost all the scenes successfully develop these plot lines simultaneously -- except for one notable exception. Drew's mother Hollie (Susan Sarandon) comes to the memorial service for Drew's father in Kentucky. She does about five minutes of pseudo-standup comedy that should serve to demonstrate the distress her husband's death has caused her and as a cathartic release. The scene doesn't work for several reasons. First, the movie follows Drew and his development, so this shift to show his mother's development takes us off the real story line. Second, I just didn't find the scene funny, and nothing drags on longer than boring standup comedy. We see the audience at the memorial service just about rolling on the floor with laughter at Holly's jokes, but even with the laugh track, the lines just didn't make me laugh. So except for this one notable exception, I found Elizabethtown an enjoyable, pleasant, interesting, and funny study of Drew's developing character.
The soundtrack plays an important part of Elizabethtown's success. I have to compliment the music editor, Nancy Wilson, who has selected an excellent collection of songs that compliment the mood of every scene.
