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Movie Review - Elizabethtown (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Cameron Crowe |
| Starring: |
Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Biel, and Susan Sarandon |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for language and some sexual references) |
| Length: |
123 minutes |
| Genre: |
Comedy/Drama/Romance |
| Tagline: |
It's a heck of a place to find yourself |
| Studio: |
Paramount Pictures |
| Website: |
Elizabethtown |
| Release: |
October 14, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Drew Baylor (Bloom) is an Oregon shoe designer who learns a harsh lesson in the difference between a failure and
a fiasco when his new shoe - the Spasmotica - is set to lose the company almost a billion dollars. Drew is
lifted out of his near-suicidal despair, ironically, by the news that his father has just died. Since Drew is
the oldest, he's expected to take charge - that includes heading to Elizabethtown, Kentucky to retrieve his
father's body.
On the flight there Drew meets Claire (Dunst), a die-hard optimist who teaches him to quit feeling sorry for
himself and to learn what it means to be truly alive. One of the year's biggest surprises (considering my
expectations) ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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To be honest (and why would I want to be dishonest about this?), my reaction when I first saw the trailer for
Elizabethtown was, and this is pretty much verbatim, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Man, that looks gay." After
wiping the tears that the laughably bad-looking trailer caused, I reflected on how I couldn't think of a less
appealing screen couple than Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. But hey, Tom Petty's Learning to Fly was
in the trailer and I did like Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, so I figured I'd at least sit through this
for free.
I admit it; I had grandiose dreams of just how much ridicule I'd heap upon this. I was already coming up with
jokes. But then a funny thing happened at the theater. I'm man enough to admit that I ended up enjoying
Elizabethtown. WAAAAAAAAAY more than I expected to. I really thought the only thing about the movie I
would like was the music, but little by little I found my interest in the story and (surprisingly) the
characters growing.
I just wish Crowe's cast selections were as good as his song selections. I was prepared to make fun of the
fact that Crowe always gets praised for having good taste in music and knowing how to incorporate that music
within his movies. "You can't just fill a movie with great music and expect the audience to be tricked
into thinking they're watching a great film," is what I was going to trumpet. But you know what? The music really
does help tell the story here. Any film with four Tom Petty songs has something going for it. In particular,
Petty's It'll All Work Out is spot-on as Claire's theme song. It's just a shame that Claire herself isn't
played by an actress that fit the song and character better.
Claire says in the movie, "I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember." Ironically, I found the
character impossible to dislike, but hard to really love. That's due to Dunst's portrayal. It's a shame
because I really wanted to like Claire - she's a well-written character, and I like her role in the story.
The problem is that Dunst's faux Southern accent just sounds so disingenuous that every time she really tried
to lay it on thick she'd pull my interest away from the character. One minute the accent would disappear faster
than Christian Slater's hairline and then the next it would resurface with reckless abandon.
Come on, Crowe, if you wanted a blonde actress who could talk with a Southern accent then you should've called
Rachel McAdams! Or you could've gone with Reese Witherspoon's real Southern accent. Oh man, or how about Kate
Hudson? OK, now I'm just getting depressed over what could have been.
For me, Dunst is the major weak point in the film, and this also kept me from really ever caring if she and
Bloom would hook up. I WANTED to care about them as a couple, but their lack of chemistry killed that.
I'm still no fan of Orlando Bloom, but I admit he's actually watchable in this role. Granted, he still needs to
wax that little boy mustache of his that is desperately fighting to grow into something more than peach fuzz, but
he managed to avoid making me hate him. Would I have preferred someone else in the role? Sure, James Franco
comes to mind. But there's not much I can do about that.
Susan Sarandon's tap-dancing is a bit self-indulgent as well, but that's stuff I can deal with. I just really
liked Crowe's homage to small-town America. It's not often you get a Hollywood film that portrays the South in
such a warm, honest light. There are some quirky characters, but they all add to the fable feel of the story.
That's right; I said it has the feel of a fable. That means you shouldn't take everything so seriously. When
the band is jamming to Freebird while the ball room catches on fire around them then please don't bother
complaining how unrealistic that is. In rock 'n roll there's an axiom known as "the show must go on." Accept it
and deal. Crowe's mainly working with ideas rather than realistic portrayals here.
I'm actually surprised that Elizabethtown is getting torn to shreds by most critics. Oh well, I suppose
it isn't for everybody. It's far from perfect, and a better cast could have really made this something special,
but the story and well-written characters are there. If you can't get into the storytelling of the music then
you might not like it as much as I did. But for me, Elizabethtown was really a pleasant surprise.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Cameron Crowe drew inspiration for Elizabethtown from the emotions he felt at his father's unexpected
passing.
- One of Crowe's goals with E-town was to make the type of his film his father liked best: a combination of
genuine emotion and humor.
- Kirsten Dunst raved about working with Crowe and claimed, "The tone he sets is a very safe atmosphere..."
What, she's been on sets before where people have been mugged or murdered?
- The town of E-town, KY initially had no real significance to the project. Crowe came across the name, loved
it, and decided to use it as his title.
- The movie was filmed in three separate Memphis locations in one day - The Arcade Restaurant, Earnestine and
Hazel's Blues Bar, and the National Civil Rights Museum.
- Crowe wrote the role of Drew Baylor with Bloom in Mind. Bloom was originally unable to take the role due to
scheduling conflicts with Kingdom of Heaven. Crowe then cast Ashton
Kutcher in the role (??) but let him go because he felt he had no chemistry with Dunst. Filming was delayed and
Bloom was eventually able to work the film into his schedule.
- James Franco auditioned for the part of Drew, and I would've preferred him in the role.
- Jessica Biel auditioned for the role of Claire but was cast as Ellen instead. That's a shame.
- Biel was recently selected as Esquire's "Sexiest Woman Alive." If you saw her in the black dress she recently
wore on Conan O'Brien then you'd have trouble arguing the selection. Wow.
- Orlando Bloom was in Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp who shared an episode of 21 Jump Street
with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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Mama would probably get bored with this one since she's not all that interested in movies about a young man's
journey to find the meaning of life. Profanity isn't off the charts, but it does contain a handful of "s" words
and 2 "f" bombs. The "f" bomb is also dropped in a Ryan Adams song that's played during the movie. Leave the
kids at home, I doubt that'd be that interested in the story anyway.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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Much, much better than the trailer. The trailer didn't interest me in the movie AT ALL!
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THE GIST
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I actually don't know who to recommend this to. Typically, I'd say, "If you're a Cameron Crowe fan then you'll
love this!" Strangely enough, I've seen plenty of Crowe fans whining and complaining that this isn't that good.
I suppose if you love Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst then you'll like the movie because I don't like either one
yet I still enjoyed it.
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