Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Paramount Pictures

3.5 Stars



“I teach [my kid] about Abraham Lincoln and Ronnie Van Zant because they are both of equal importance,” says one character in Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown,” the latest work from the creative genius behind “Almost Famous.” In this new film, the writer-director attempts to make sense of the varied and often irreverent cultural contrasts and contradictions he finds amid the Mississippi River Valley.

Crowe starts his film in the contrastingly sterile and bland corporate world, in which shoe designer Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) has just been fired (“Jerry Maguire” much?). When a suicidal Drew is interrupted by news of his father’s unexpected death, he leaves behind his botched attempt to take his life and travels to his father’s tranquil Kentucky home, Elizabethtown. On the way, he meets kooky flight attendant Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), who refuses to leave him alone and, in an Unexpected Twist, teaches him to see the world in a new and clearer way.

Drew and Claire’s burgeoning love is handled rather clumsily by Crowe, which is surprising considering he is the auteur behind classic romances like “Say Anything” and “Jerry Maguire.” Although Crowe at times mocks cheesy “chick flicks,” he too often succumbs to the genre, reverting to its poor, contrived conventions. (Honestly, does every girl talk to her new crush while taking a bubble bath?)

Particularly disappointing is the way in which Drew and Claire’s first real connection is depicted: all-night phone conversations with random people who pestered you on the plane do not happen. Worse yet are the numerous occasions in which Claire attempts to take a “mental snapshot” of Drew and mimes an invisible camera. Such a cutesy representation of internal thought should never again be enacted on film—ever.

Bloom and Dunst perform well together, but inconsistently. Bloom’s brown puppy-dog eyes are capable of more than just weakening the knees of 13-year-old girls; here, they convey a lot of subtle emotion. He can do many variants of caged and restrained, but nothing for exuberance. Dunst can be endearing, but often becomes annoying (and needs to figure out her character’s accent).

There are some moments of real tenderness between the two; but the true life of the movie exists not within, but rather around its central characters, in the supporting cast, strong soundtrack, and underlying messages.

The minor characters are superb, including the idiosyncratic corporate executive Phil (Alec Baldwin), Drew’s grieving mother (Susan Sarandon), and his cousin Jesse (Paul Schneider), whose proudest moment was almost being the opening act on the side stage of a music festival that featured Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Crowe’s films have always demonstrated an obsession with rock music (not surprisingly, “Elizabethtown”’s soundtrack is spectacular), but here he finds beauty in the raw passion and energy of the music. The lovers’ most enduring moment, coming in the film’s magnificent final act, is not found in a romantic viewing of the sunrise over the idyllic Kentucky countryside; it’s in the climactic memorial service for Drew’s father, drenched by sprinklers, surrounded by fire, and listening to the guitar solo from “Free Bird.”

In its quirkiness, plot structure, reliance on music, and examination of a character overcoming malaise through an unexpected romance, “Elizabethtown” calls to mind “Garden State” (and looks worse for the comparison). While “Garden State” focused on a character awakening to and experiencing the world around him, “Elizabethtown” is about a character learning to accept his life and all its shortcomings, or, as Claire puts it, to “wallow in the delicious misery.”

The quick cuts that overwhelm upon Drew’s first meeting his family in Kentucky are replaced by calmer shots at the end, and, like Drew, we are finally able to see the beauty in his surroundings despite (or perhaps due to his acceptance of) the frequent disarray.

Ultimately, the film succeeds because Crowe is not maliciously satirizing a certain region of the country or political view. Drew’s more liberal immediate family and his conservative, religious southern relatives are both equally outlandish. Instead, Crowe focuses on the chaos that is present in each of our lives, encouraging us to revel in it (after all, isn’t every family a bit strange?).

Because of Crowe’s strong direction and writing, the audience will come to appreciate “Elizabethtown” despite its flaws and idiosyncrasies—kind of like that crazy family member you can’t help but love.