Elizabethtown (2005)

“So you failed. Alright you really failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you’re still smiling. ” – Claire

Number of Times Seen – 2 (3 May 2006 and 25 Aug 2015)

Brief Synopsis – After having the worst day of his life at work, a young man receives news that his father has suddenly passed away and that he has to travel across the country to retrieve the body

My Take on it – My good friend SG over at Rhyme and Reason, has been trying to convince me for a while to rewatch this movie because he loves it so much.

I recalled enjoying it a lot, but my recollections weren’t of an excellent movie.

Upon rewatching it, I can honestly say that my memories of this movie were correct.

Cameron Crowe has a talent for creating very likeable characters and the problem here is that these characters are all TOO likeable that it takes away from the realism of the movie and the potential movie magic a story like this can create.

The choices for the lead characters were great because Orlando Bloom and Kirstin Dunst have great chemistry together and we can believe that a friendship like their can work.

As always, Crowe chooses some amazing music for this movie which gives the film a feel that helps overcome some of the crazy scenarios presented for us

Ultimately tho, this is a movie about loss and finding a way to deal with it and make yourself better because of it.

That message alone makes it enjoyable to watch, but it isn’t Crowe’s best work despite a very good attempt at eclipsing some of his other films.

Bottom Line – Crowe knows how to create likeable characters who we root for, but this time they feel too likeable which causes this story to lose some of its potential magic.  Bloom and Dunst have great chemistry together.  Perfect musical choices from Crowe as always help make this movie feel right despite some of its own craziness. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – On Claire’s road map for Drew, there is a quote by R. Hammond and J. Bebe. Russell Hammond and Jeff Bebe were two of Stillwater’s members in Cameron Crowe’s previous film Almost Famous (2000).(From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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