Rencontres à Elizabethtown

This movie is unlike most in that it doesn't try for reality -- it is more like an inner dialogue played out so we can see it.

There are several laugh out loud moments which should not be missed. These stand up even in a second viewing. The juxtaposition of Orlando's Bloom's fiasco-failure of historic proportions/his father's funeral/Chuck and Cindie's wedding/and perhaps finding his life mate, Kristan Dunst, are all woven into a timeless (no)place called Elizabethtown, which is magical. For me the magic worked. There were a few things that didn't click, but mostly it was genuine, funny, and affecting.

Alec Baldwin is perfect as Phil, the shoe tycoon. He has just the right mix of bonhomie, menace, and smart-guy-in-charge to fill the role.

Susan Sarandon seems a bit distracting at first but by the end "its all good," -- wait I don't say that -- "it works" there that is better. Her contribution is uplifting.

As for the "World's Second Largest Farmer's Market" -- it isn't on any map that doesn't map the human heart.

I appreciate what I think Crowe was trying to accomplish here with Elizabethtown, but through a combination of missteps it falls very short. In general I like both Bloom and Dunst but feel they are both a bit miscast and present these interestingly written characters poorly. Neither quite succeeds. I very badly wanted to final road trip portion of the film to be great and to be moved by it, but alas it just rung hollow to me and I was not able to connect with it. Sure there were some nice elements and moments here, but overall it just seemed to drag on for far too long.

Enjoyed the movie but wonder what a shoe designer has to do with a product recall. There would be prototypes developed and significant testing conducted before a company invested a billion dollars in production of a shoe designed by anyone, much less someone who was hired from a national scholarship program...

I don't know. It seems to me that Americans have lost their taste for "small" films - films that emphasize character, rather than explosions and movement. You get the same sort of comments with movies like Tim Burton's wonderful Big Fish or Spielberg's Terminal. I will admit that the Dunst character is a cliché, but this movie is really about the extras, the characters that step out of the background, have their moment, and step back again. Paula Dean stands out as a woman to whom family -- *all* her family -- is all-important and who keeps it together with food and photographs. I'm not from Kentucky or the South, although I've lived South for a number of years. I'm not that interested in *my* extended family -- and in that respect I'm far closer to the Bloom character than to the Dean character. But I recognize that this film is a great portrait of a certain kind of family life. Also, the dead father becomes a very well-rounded character indeed, as you think about the contradictions of his life. This is a film that expects the audience to do a little work, and it pays very well for that work.

For the critics who say this film meanders and rambles, I have to say this: When your dad dies, your life meanders and rambles. I can't speak for everyone who has lost a father but I can speak for myself, and I thought it was spot-on in it's portrayal of the confusing roller-coaster that surrounds the death of a parent. Elizabethtown has all of the things you'd expect from a Cameron Crowe movie: a unique and personal story, great music, beautiful cinematography, surprising humor (I was actually choking from laughing so hard during the videotape scene) and very real and touching moments. I thought the acting was great. Orlando Bloom gave a touching and subtle performance. Kirsten Dunst's accent did go in and out a bit, but she and Bloom had such great chemistry that it didn't bother me at all. Susan Sarandon was perfect, Alec Baldwin was hilarious, the Elizabethtown residents were quirky and fun...if I have a complaint it's that the amazing Judy Greer was underutilized. Overall, this movie had everything that a great movie should have. Shame on the critics who panned it simply because it didn't follow the usual Hollywood plot map—this film is about taking the scenic route and making the trip meaningful, and that's what it did.