the Unexpressed Advantage

This Valentine’s day roommate and I made a sweet dinner for the girls upstairs, drank a bit of wine, and capped the evening off with a viewing of “Elizabethtown.”

Elizabethtown tells the story of the main character who I can’t remember his name, but he’s played by Orlando Bloom. The movie starts with him attempting to face the fact that he’s cost the company he works for a billion dollars and many people will lose their job. In the midst of dealing with that tragedy, he faces another by learning that his father has just died of a heart attack. Main Character flies from Oregon to Louisville, Kentucky to deal with funeral preparations; along the way meeting an attractive girl in Kirsten Dunst. You can see where its going from there. As Main Character explores his new found friendship, the oddness of his father’s family, and the mourning of his passing father, he embarks on a series of reflective adventures that leave him a Changed man. I wont’ spoil it for you, but it has a romantic storyline as well, as you may have suspected.

The movie was ok, but I think it failed in its principle objective. Writer / Director Cameron Crowe (Jerry McGuire, Almost Famous) attempts to help us understand the conflicted main character by showing a varying group of events that (I think) are meant to form a mosaic of the deeper significance in his life. In a perfect world, the viewer would walk away saying, “yeah I really get it. I can relate to this man.” But we don’t live in a perfect world, and I was just left wondering what all the different parts had to do with each other. I guess the main character learned something; I’m just not sure what.

Kirsten Dunst gave a fine performance albeit having to voice some pretty weak dialogue; Orlando Bloom with even weaker dialogue couldn’t really cut it. He looks really nice, but any time he had to relay some sort of emotional diatribe it felt forced and lacking. The strong supporting cast including Susan Sarandon acted well, yet their characters were mostly insignificant and none of them had any depth. The only character that seemed to come alive at all was Dunst’s; I guess that counts for something. We also realized that she only has a dimple on one side of her mouth.

When you consider Crowe’s achievements in Jerry MacGuire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and Say Anything, you might come to expect pure gold from the guy; But this film just didn’t measure up. Most of the time I just kept asking, “what in the world is this scene in here for?” At one point Main Character’s cousin’s band is playing a song at the memorial service, while a giant paper mache seagull – in flames – is being moved across the banquet room on some kind of a zip line. The fire sprinklers come on, causing the band to go into a lynard skynard-esque high energy jam, and Orlando looks on, soaking wet, as Kirsten Dunst as she (also soaking wet) exits the room. I knew I was supposed to feel something, but I didn’t. All I really feel is the need to make a firm resolution never to visit Elizabeth Town (or watch it again).