"That's a nice-a donut."

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Elizabethtown (2005)

Cameron Crowe is a very creative and likeable filmmaker. His talents have given us such classic characters as Jeff Spicoli and Mr. Hand, Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court, Cliff Poncier and Janet Livermore, Rod Tidwell and Jerry Maguire, and William Miller and Penny Lane. He did hit a snag, though, with 2001's Vanilla Sky, which was basically a disheveled mess. But most of his fans are likely to give him the benefit of the doubt on that, and so he went back to his roots of more personal storytelling with Elizabethtown. Whereas his critical sensation Almost Famous was, in some ways, an ode to his mother, Elizabethtown is shaped by the memories of his father. The plot outline sounded very promising: a young man who has just been dealt a blow in his professional life returns home to a small Southern town after his father dies and finds his true love. Unfortunately, the promise ends there. Though the same could surely be said about a lot of movies, I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) faces being a miserable failure after the sneaker that he has been developing for years becomes a bust and costs his company (an obvious stand-in for Nike) millions. And his relationship with his girlfriend (Jessica Biel) is treading water. He has hit so low that he is about to try to kill himself when he receives word that his father has died. So he heads to Elizabethtown, Kentucky (somewhere outside of Louisville) to take care of things and make the arrangements for the funeral. On the flight there he meets a spunky flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dunst) and they hit it off. Back in E-Town, Drew meets much of the town and learns some stories and tidbits about his dad. So while he is still reeling from his unbelievable failure at work, and deal with the many headaches that come with planning a memorial service. And do that while trying to woo Claire, which is the real story here.

By the time the movie finally ended, I just didn't care what happened to Drew or Claire, one way or the other. The horrible last fifteen minutes or so - after the first ending - are simply an egregious, pompous attempt to seem "whimsical" or free-flowing and fun. What it ends up being though is just another excuse to play more popular music. Crowe has obviously used music to much success in his previous films, sometimes the music is even the focus, but there was still some depth underneath the music. There was a story that you actually cared about.

There are some moments of fun though, in E-Town. Especially some of the little things that play up the ingrown, home-fried, Southern culture, such as the way everyone knows everyone else and the fact that they continually say that Mitch and his family were from California (even though it is actually Oregon - because everything far away and out west is California to them). But those small moments are few and far between. I also liked the beginning of the relationship between Drew and Claire, particularly when they first meet. But after that it feels rather forced and the pair are made to be too needy. What's up with all of Claire's little lies - it's fine the first time or two, when you leave the audience unsure if the couple can actually be together, but don't drag it out like that, or you lose. An ongoing joke about Chuck and Cindy's wedding ("lovin' life 24-7") - a young couple staying at a hotel with a bunch of friends, just having a good time and partying before getting married - is more engaging than Drew and Claire. And Cindy is never even really seen!

Prior to the ending, the movie isn't really bad ...it's just not anywhere near good. And if you think that the general plot of the movie sounds familiar, that's because it is. Zach Braff's Garden State already nailed the routine about the young, not-sure-where-he's-headed, son whose dad dies, comes home, has a reawakening and falls in love. Elizabethtown is a very stale comparison. That's two strikes, Cameron.

The Verdict: C-.

Michael Bentley 9:39 AM

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