Customer Reviews

Elizabethtown

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

Loved this movie! And not just because it was filmed around my home town and state. But because it was everything I didn't expect and more.

Don't go seeing Elizabethtown for the full frontal assault of Jerry Maguire or Almost Famous. This one is subtle in the humor and long on thought. The plot is filled with pure Kentuckyiana that gives an insight into the characters. The characters ARE the plot, moving it along in a sweet, poignant adult "coming of age" story. The "suits" had a serious problem with this one because it can't be categorized. There were moments of touching sorrow but it's not a drama. There were moments of laughter, but it's not really a comedy. It's quirky and different. You'll laugh through your tears and cry through your laughing.

Someone complaining about the "lack of chemistry" between Bloom and Dunst didn't pay a whole lot of attention to things. The whole point of the love story is that it grows. That chemistry was played down until the end, as it should have been. The plot isn't about a man falling in love. It's about a man coming to grips with his past, his present, and his future. The love story is an evolutionary thing and takes a backseat to the real plot.

I truly enjoyed this movie. Cameron Crowe gave a unique perspective into the beauty of Kentucky, choosing NOT to show the usual horse farms and antebellum manses...but showing the mountains and the backroads of the state. Bloom is the right mix of sardonic and lost. Dunst offers the irritatingly perky flight attendant that shows a more rich personality later on. They meshed well together. Sarandon is a bloody hoot as the widow learning to cope with being alone. The tapestry of characters weaves a beautiful story that unfolds in layers. It'll leave you crying, laughing, and part of time well spent. I can't wait for this one to come out on DVD. I'll be first in line to purchase it.

Writer/Director Cameron Crowe's ("Say Anything...", "Singles," "Jerry Maguire", "Almost Famous", "Vanilla Sky") latest film met a painful death when it was released to theaters last fall. For a film that is undeniably non-controversial, it was a strangely polarizing film with one camp showering praise while its' detractors voiced seemingly endless complaints which ranged from performances, character's motivations, the film's meandering tone, to even the use of its' soundtrack. I am proudly placing myself in the first group. I have seen the film twice and while I don't think that this is a great film (or even my favorite Cameron Crowe film), it struck a profound chord with me that has remained months after seeing it. I feel that this film never had the chance it deserved and it was completely undervalued and unappreciated. Thanks to DVD, it has a second chance. I am not only anxious to see it again; I am graciously urging you to give this film a try.

The opening of the film recalls elements of "Jerry Maguire" (and to some extent, the darker tones of "Vanilla Sky") as we meet 27-year-old Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), an introverted shoe designer for a Nike-ish corporation. Drew is fired for designing a disastrous athletic shoe entitled the "Spasmotica" (envisioned to give the wearer the feeling of "walking on a cloud") and the failure of his eight years in the making design will potentially cost his company to lose 1 billion dollars. This fiasco additionally costs him his girlfriend and hours later, on the brink of committing suicide, he receives an urgent call from his sister (Judy Greer) informing him of their father's sudden death. Drew is then dispatched by his mother (Susan Sarandon) to venture to his father's small Kentucky hometown of Elizabethtown to deal with the extended family and protect his father's dying wishes. On his way to Elizabethtown, Drew meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), an extremely cheerful flight attendant who begins to point Drew in the direction of seeing life's possibilities.

"Elizabethtown" is NOT a romantic comedy, although there is a romance in it. The outcome of the film doesn't hinge on whether Drew and Claire become romantically involved. This film is about life and death itself and the baby steps Drew takes towards embracing life. Most importantly, "Elizabethtown" shows, in graceful and subtle ways, how that very embrace comes down to the power of choice. One can choose despair or happiness, and for most of the film, Drew, still contemplating suicide, skulks around in dark clothes like the specter of death while being confronted with Claire's relentless optimism, and the unconditional love from a family he barely knows. Through watching characters like Drew's mother (obviously consumed with grief over the loss of her husband plus being confronted with issues of her own mortality) to Claire herself (a much more complicated character than given credit for), the power of choice becomes more explicit and meaningful to Drew, and hopefully, the audience. The film concludes with a majestic and music filled cross-country road trip, selflessly created for Drew by Claire, to help him reconnect with the world and the life force that surges through all manner of people, places, and things.

As previously stated, many complaints about this film were steered towards its' slower pace and meandering tone. I felt that this was Crowe's artistic choice to make a film that approximated the rhythms of real life. Real life is not made up of a concisely driven narrative hurtling itself along to a conclusion. Life is a series of moments, which build upon other moments and sometimes, emotionally collide. Crowe gracefully etches out these moments in various fashions. A courtship while buying an urn. A tap dance during a memorial service. Dealing with death in a hotel where seemingly every other patron is part of a rambunctious, life-affirming wedding party. In this film, Crowe masterfully captures the "in-between" moments of Drew's journey and audiences need to give this film the patience and time it needs to fully resonate.

"Elizabethtown" is not an instant gratification movie. It is not about a payoff. It is designed for the viewer to take an emotional journey with Drew. Patient viewers will be rewarded with a deeply heartfelt film that means what it says about success, failure, family, loss and love and it ultimately provides a sense of hope in a world that desperately needs it. Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" is a love story to life.

I LOVE the movie Elizabethtown! If you want to see a movie portraying a pie-in-the-sky family don't see this one. If you want to see a fast-paced movie don't see this one.

Some people have said Orlando Bloom's acting is flat, or lethargic. Wrong. Orlando has nailed his character once again proving he is a great actor more than just with costumes, swords, bows and arrows. He has just experienced a shocking, mind-blowing event in his life followed by finding out his Dad has just died. Emotion has not surfaced yet. Anyone who has experienced a similar life event can tell you there may not be emotion showing just yet. All that is seen is quietness and shock. His seemingly perfect life is unraveling. Then enters Claire.

Kirsten Dunst is PERFECT for this role and she performs it with spunk and irresistable charm.

The family portrayed in this movie is not perfect. Far from it. They are painfully real. Fathers and sons who don't see eye to eye. Children who are too busy living far away to make it home to see their relatives. Children who misbehave. Chaos and rocky relationships during family gatherings.

There are some words and phrases that could have been completely left out, one "F" word and one story during the funeral about a neighbor; completely pointless and not funny.

Humor is bountiful, the roadtrip is amazing, the tunes are incredible, it stirs the emotions. It was worth paying to see in the theatre and definitely worth buying. Watch it first or watch it with your kids, but not young ones.

Don't miss 60B! See Elizabethtown.

Soundtrack - excellent
movie - well done
acting - pretty good

I put off seeing this movie and really hadn't planned on watching it. Until last Saturday (the 22 of April) I was at home and there were nothing but thunder storms outside. I gave in a decided I would give it a try. At the very least I would fall asleep on the couch.

I was wrong. I couldn't fall asleep. I was too drawn into the story. Give this movie a chance. Don't let the single star raters turn you off to it. See the movie, and decide for yourself.

Cheers

Even before hitting the screens, the PR machine was wild with rumors about re-writes, cuts, revisions, and doom so that when ELIZABETHTOWN finally entered the theaters it was a short gasp before it was gone. Didn't see it in the theaters, but watching this little film on DVD makes this viewer wonder just why the movie was so poorly received. Yes, it is lengthy (over two hours) for a story that is fairly slight, and yes, it is a bit self indulgent even for writer director Cameron Crowe, and it is true the script is odd and patchy and contains big dollops of mushy philosophy. But given all that, if you take your time and relax your expectations, this is a nice little film with many good things going for it.

Drew (Orlando Bloom) is a bright and successful designer who has spent the last eight years of his life designing the Spasmodic show for a big Oregon firm led by Alec Baldwin. But the shoe is a bust, costs the company nearly a billion dollars, and costs Drew his job. Simultaneously his girlfriend dumps him and Drew finds himself on a machine design for suicide - when the phone rings and his sister informs him his father just died while he was in his hometown of Elizabethtoen, Kentucky. As the eldest Drew must go make the arrangements.

Drew books a flight on an empty airline with only the stewardess as companion - the kooky but funny and very sweet Claire (Kirsten Dunst) who begins a long conversation about names, Drew's life, her life, etc. When Drew lands in Louisville he thinks he is saying goodbye ("I'm good at remembering goodbye looks") to Claire, but in reality Claire follows Drew through his time in Elizabethtown and eventually assists him in rethinking and rediscovering the true meaning of success and happiness in a road trip that follows the funeral. The townsfolk of Elizabethtown are a warm and oddball crew who awaken in Drew an appreciation for his father, memories dormant and set aside for the sake of his own misbegotten success. The town loved his father and it is only after Drew convinces his sister (Judy Greer) and mother (Susan Sarandon) to come to Elizabethtown for the memorial service to end all memorial services that Drew can begin his own Claire-designed road trip with father's ashes that the whole story takes on some meaning.

With some judicious pruning of a script constipated by verbiage or lazy phrases and with a bit of editing and fleshing out of some of the characters, this little non-pretentious story might have just become that - unpretentious. But Cameron Crowe is Cameron Crowe for all that, and accepting his style is necessary to sit back and have a nice little evening with these nice folks. Grady Harp, February 06

I judge the value of a film by how much I can identify with the characters....I've been single my entire life because I never found a 'Clarie'.....That special soul with a third eye that sees things within others they may have missed themselves...I just sat back, turned off my critical eye and just enjoyed the journey into friendship, understanding, humor and eventually love..
Another aspect I enjoyed was Drew's realization that he actually loved his Dad more than he knew...
I realize that I may a voice in the wilderness but I loved the message of never giving up and need to Celebrate Life....and the feeling I was participating in a real love story

Of course people are going to compare this movie to Cameron Crowe's previous work and complain that it "doesn't add up," that it "isn't as good." Pish posh. True, Elizabethtown MAY not be quite on par as Almost Famous, but it's still a really good movie. And it has Cameron Crowe written all over it. You'll get lost in Orlando Bloom's eyes (guys will too, let's all admit it) and be swept away with Kirsten Dunst's "whimsical" performance. That's the word. Whimsical.

Bloom stars as Drew Baylor, a shoe designer whose new shoe-- the "Spasmotica" --has just been recalled. This one shoe has lost the company close to one billion dollars. Bloom narrates throughout the film (yes, like Jerry Maguire... blast these comparisons!) and tells us that it wasn't just a failure, it was a fiasco. He makes it a point to go home and use a knife strapped to an exercise bike to kill himself, but before he can, his phone rings. He almost doesn't answer it, but alas, he does and it's his sister with the news that their father has died of a heart attack. So Drew takes the red eye to Elizabethtown, his father's hometown in Kentucky, in order to take the body back to Oregon, where Drew's parents have lived for some eighteen years. Though everyone in Elizabethtown keeps insisting that he lived in California, whisked away by some wiley girl all those years ago. People in this small town love and truly know one another, and Drew's father, Mitch, was a legacy. Everyone has a story about Mitch. On the flight, Drew meets perky flight attendant Claire (Dunst), whom you can tell doesn't want to let Drew out of her sight. Can't say I blame her. She sees something in him.

We learn along with Drew just how great his father was and how much he'll be missed, and you can see subtle changes in Drew's attitude as the film progresses. Bloom really shines in this role. I'm just thankful he's not carrying a sword or arrows. I'm not a big fan of Dunst, but I really like her in this role. It just fit. Take my word for it! This movie is also backed by a magnificent soundtrack (it's Cameron Crowe after all!), which is definitely part of the reason the movie works so well. Music is just as effective as a great actor. I really like Drew and Claire. They know so much and so little at the same time. They're just like everyone else. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

In the beginning I was afriad that it was going to be too morbid--a man losing everything, including his will to live. But then his phone rings... It's all about making choices--what would you choose to do? Would you pick up the phone?

Yes, it is lengthy, but I didn't mind. I needed to know how each character was going to end up. Claire was completely unforgetable and unpredictable. If you ever watch this film, you'll know what I mean.

I should say that moving is what best describes the film. Ok, it may seem chaotic sometimes and it is for sure a series of different scenes, not a mastermind plot, but life is about the flow of very different and contradictory moments, happy and sad, not about a brilliant scheme, at least as far as human beings' lives are concerned.
What I loved about this film:
a) The deep humanity in all the characters
b) The mutual affection and tenderness between Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst that eventually develop into love
c) The beautiful road trip which culminates in the final embracing scene
d) The impressive soundtrack
e) The curious paradox that a dramatic fact can turn out to be a person's salvation, that is, the turning point to provide happiness. Or else, that from bad moments may come good ones. All of them unexpected. If Drew hadn't suffered that professional failure and his father hadn't died he wouldn't have met Claire and wouldn't have known real love at all. So, paradoxically, his career downfall and his father's decease led him eventually to happiness. One never knows what life has in store for each of us.
What I didn't like or felt a bit odd or else didn't undertand in the film:
a) How can a company lose almost one billion dollars just because of a pair of sport shoes?
b) Susan Sarandon's character as Drew's mother is rather preposterous
c) Drew's suicide idea is too soon, too immediate to be credible.
Apart from that, the film is so sweet that you'll feel really moved if you let yourself go wrapped by its scent.
Oh, yeah, and who risks wins, that's not controversial

Elizabethtown is a beautiful town in Kentucky, and I will admit it rented the DVD simply for that reason. I visited there once, over 25 years ago, and fell in love.
Put simply, the movie will touch the heart of people who enjoy stories about family. It isn't a silly comedy, nor is it a tear jerker,although I did get a lump in my throat once or twice, and I laughed out loud now and then.
Elizabethtown is a movie that shows the value of family, and the soundtrack is simply awesome! I sat, enthralled, for over two hours, and when it was over, I wanted to go out and buy copies for everyone I knew.
I am a simple person, with simple tastes, and Elizabethtown is my kind of movie. I am buying it so I can watch it again and again.