Elizabethtown (2005)
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Theatrical Release: Oct 14, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $26,838,389
Synopsis: Though it revolves around death, Cameron Crowe's hotly anticipated follow-up to VANILLA SKY is optimistic overall, beaming with the same life-affirming mood as the crowd-pleasers JERRY MAGUIRE and ALMOST FAMOUS. Promising young shoe-designer Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) quickly... Though it revolves around death, Cameron Crowe's hotly anticipated follow-up to VANILLA SKY is optimistic overall, beaming with the same life-affirming mood as the crowd-pleasers JERRY MAGUIRE and ALMOST FAMOUS. Promising young shoe-designer Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) quickly learns how failure feels when his innovative but foolish design for a winged sneaker becomes the humiliation of the footwear industry. Informed of the magnitude of his mistake, Drew applies his design skills to the task of suicide by duct-taping a knife to an exercise machine. This melodramatic act is interrupted, however, when Drew receives a call from his sister, informing him that his father has died while on a trip to his home town of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Drew's mother, Hollie (Susan Sarandon), elects him to go deal with the arrangements because he is the "responsible" and "successful" one. The only passenger on his flight, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a perky stewardess, who takes the opportunity to talk his ear off despite his apparent desire for some personal space. Supplying Drew with detailed hand-drawn maps, instructions for how not to get lost, and three phone numbers where she can be reached, Claire tenderly sends him off to confront a town full of relatives he has never met. Once in Elizabethtown, Drew is subjected to relentless family wackiness from people who seem to have known his father better than he did. Meanwhile, he stumbles into a hesitant romance with neurotic but charming Claire, whose anal-retentive wisdom, lust for life, and good taste in music may help Drew come to terms with his newly diminished place in the world--and to see it as possibly a better one. A love story, family drama, and road trip in one, ELIZABETHTOWN boasts another of Crowe's excellent soundtracks, with artists like Tom Petty and Elton John giving the film much of its emotional drive. [More]
Genre: Romance, Theatrical Release
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biel
DVD Info
Release:
Feb 7, 2006
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case - Sensormatic
- Widescreen - 16.9
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - French
- Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
- Subtitles - English, Spanish
Additional Release Material:
- Behind-the-Scenes
- Extended Scenes - 1. "Rusty Learning to Listen Part 8"
- 2. "Hanging with Russel in Memphis"
- Theatrical Trailers
- Photo Gallery
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Awash with sentimentality, this meandering tale falls way short of Crowe's usual standards.
The hero's nuclear family and kooky rural relatives are so sketchily conceived that none of the intended comedy works, and the balance of the movie is given over to one of Crowe's sugary romances.
A meandering mood piece, with no tension, no chemistry, no character development, no plot and no point.
Crowe's capable of much better than this; let's hope he gets back on track with the next one.
The performances are solid . . . but it's Kentucky that really steals the show. Crowe paints the eccentricity of the locals with an affectionate brush.
The entire enterprise smacks of wish-fulfilment provoked by middle-age male guilt. Uplifting, it most certainly ain’t.
Embaraçosamente infantil, o filme ainda deixa claro que, além da falta de carisma, Bloom é um ator inexpressivo que não possui o menor timing cômico.
Crowe is still a master navigator of swampy territory, and any movie that can warm the heart and tickle the funny bone without selling its soul is to be cherished, warts and all.
30 seconds in, it lost me. 3 minutes in, it angered me. 13 minutes in, I wanted to start randomly garotting people in the next row. 23 minutes in, I actually tried to.
With Elizabethtown [Crowe] has made another heartfelt movie shot through with his sensibility. He's also made a gigantic mess, the first directorial misfire in his six-film oeuvre.
I was surprised to find myself strolling along the film’s basic plotline, not necessarily bowled over by what I was seeing, but not exactly disliking it either.
Crowe has some very good ideas here, many of them interesting and funny, but the story lacks cohesion, focus, and contains one too many scenes that simply fall flat.
If, as the film suggests, true greatness is defined by the willingness to fail, fail big and still stick around afterwards, then consider Elizabethtown a sweet, melancholy paean to that sad truth.
Elizabethtown is rather like an OK mix tape - waves of poignance, whimsy, interrupted by a forced anomaly, & then charm in the next track.
Despite all his best intentions and last-minute editing, Cameron Crowe’s free-flow romanticism may have finally gotten the better of him.
Cameron Crowe’s heart is in the right place, but Elizabethtown probably works better as a tribute to his late father than the uplifting romantic comedy to which he aspires.
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