Elizabethtown

Synopsis: Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is fired when a running shoe he has designed threatens to lose his employers nearly one billion dollars. About to kill himself, he is deflected from the act by the death of his father, which necessitates him travelling to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to bring the remains back home. On the flight he meets eccentric flight attendant Claire (Kirsten Dunst), and in Kentucky is introduced to a vast extended family of country folk who make him see life a little differently.

Elizabethtown is so mainstream American that it's almost off-putting. All the tried and true themes are there: returning to one's familial roots; reconnecting with the father (albeit after he's dead); meeting the girl who could be the one; discovering just what is really important in life, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The opening set-up of the great shoe fiasco features a terrific appearance by Alec Baldwin as the boss of a Nike-like corporation. At this point the script is tight and witty. As the film ventures into Drew's suicide attempts and his stressed flight on the red eye to Kentucky it starts falling into clichéd territory. Saccharine sweet family sentimentality overwhelms as he then meets his extended family who seem to be just the darned nicest folks out, who love just everyone, especially Mitch, Drew's dead father. But amongst the trowel loads of sugar, there's a developing love/friendship between Drew and Claire, despite the oft-repeated line is that they are only "substitute people" for the real loves in each other's lives. They do seem to be able to crack the record books for intense courtship over a mobile phone, and this makes for a couple of rather amusing scenes.

Other seemingly extraneous plots get brought in. Drew stays at a hotel where there is a big hyped up three-day long wedding between Chuck and Cindy which encapsulates much that is crass about American society. The film feels far more authentic when focussing upon Drew and Claire, and really comes into its own in the later segments when a long and cathartic road trip is undertaken by Drew, with his father's ashes in the passenger seat.

Dunst simply leaps off the screen as the very pushy and fresh-faced Claire, and for fans of this actress the film is worth seeing for her alone. Bloom is very sweet and cute but seems to lack a certain punch until the road trip scenes where he shows more depth. There is a scene almost as an afterthought with Susan Sarandon as Drew's mother doing a stand up comedy act at her husband's memorial, and it feels out of place. Also the actual timing of events just doesn't ring true for me. (How did she learn to tapdance so well between her husband's death and his memorial service?)

What this film tries to do was done far better in Garden State but Crowe, as always relying on a well chosen chosen soundtrack, manages to serve up a quite enjoyable, if not exactly memorable, entertainment.

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