Elizabethtown

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biel
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
2005

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After costing his company almost a billion dollars, a young man (Orlando Bloom) contemplates suicide. Instead, he must travel to Kentucky to retrieve the body of his recently-deceased father. Along the way, he meets an energetic flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) who helps him along the way as he deals with his monumental failure at work, and the grief of losing his father.

Review:

Tim: Cameron Crowe, a director who is responsible for some great films, tries to bring us another one here. Like most of Crowe's films, this one features a well-assembled cast, music plays an essential role in the film, and some excellent dramatic elements are present. Still, there is something missing that prevents this from moving from a good to a great movie.

The film succeeds because of the chemistry between stars Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. This shouldn't even be possible, because Bloom acts his way through this movie like he just awoke from a coma. Dunst is quirky, fun, and borders on being psychotic. And yet, somehow, these two actors work well together, and we enjoy seeing them on screen. The supporting cast is good, but the talents of Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, and Jessica Biel are mostly wasted here.

There are some very good scenes here. The highlight has to be Bloom's roadtrip near the end, complete with extremely appropriate music. This is the best part of the entire movie, and a very well made section of the film.

One of the biggest failures of the film is the fact that some excellent themes are put in place, preparing us for some truly dramatic moments. These are never fully capitalized upon, and these moments, which should have been so amazing, ultimately, are just disappointing.

Elizabethtown is a decent film created by an excellent director. However, it had the potential to be much better, and very well should have been. While the film is somewhat emotional, this should have been far more impactful. There are some truly funny scenes, but in the end, we are left thinking more of what could be, and less of what actually is. This movie has just enough to keep you entertained.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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