Elizabethtown [2005]

Cameron Crowe is a good filmmaker who showed a knack for capturing realistic characters and dialogue with his earlier efforts Say Anything... and Almost Famous. Crowe also fills his movies with quirky little sub-plots and bit roles making them a lot more interesting than you’d expect – but his latest, Elizabethtown, while having some of the great moments from his past work (I absolutely love the scenes in the finale with star Orlando Bloom touring across America and seeing all the history around him) just doesn’t seem to capture the outright charm he's managed before and it suffers from having a lead actor who seems pretty stiff and uncomfortable in his role.

Bloom stars as a young wunderkind who finds his life thrown into the blender when the athletic shoe he designed is recalled and has cost his employer (Alec Baldwin, in an amusing bit role as the company’s founder/president) a billion dollars. This throws him into a suicidal state that ends up having to be put on hold when his sister calls to tell him his father has just died of a heart attack and that he’ll have to go and collect the body.

While on a flight to Elizabethtown, Kentucky he’s constantly bothered by his eccentric flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) who chats up a storm and gives him directions – as well as her phone number. From there we’re led through some typical romantic comedy events (and a few wacky subplots) as Bloom has to deal with the townsfolk of Elizabethtown, mother Susan Sarandon who’s been stuffing a lifetime into a few days in order to keep her mind off things, and an impending romance with Dunst who he happened to call when he needed someone to talk to.

I’m not about to say that Elizabethtown is a bad movie. It’s not. There’s plenty of things to like in it and there’s some decent laughs to be had, but it just isn’t up to the task of matching most of Crowe’s earlier films as it runs on about half-an-hour longer than it should and it’s hindered by Bloom’s “off” performance, which is really one of his first attempts to play a romantic lead without having to be fighting off various creatures with swords and bows. It’s just that the movie seems to be trying too hard to be different from all the other romantic comedies out there and at times falls under the weight of pretentiousness in Crowe’s script. Plus the relationship between Bloom and Dunst is at times a little hard to buy and feels a little bit too rushed together.

If you’re looking for a "date movie" then Elizabethtown should fill that need, but if you want a romantic comedy you’ll cherish and enjoy for years to come you’re probably better off with Crowe’s Say Anything...

2 out of 4

Directed and Written by Cameron Crowe. 123 minutes. PG-13