Product Description

From Oscar winner Cameron Crowe comes "a potent blend of rock 'n' roll and classic romantic comedy." Orlando Bloom stars as Drew Baylor, a hot-shot designer whose life becomes completely unraveled when he loses his father and his job on one fateful day. En route to Elizabethtown to visit his family, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst). She's beautiful, unstoppably positive, and just the gal to guide Drew on his journey back home and to teach him what it means to live and love along the way. Set against the backdrop of an incredible soundtrack, ELIZABETHTOWN is "an amazing trip of love, loss and laughter."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7686 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2006-02-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.com
Elizabethtown has all of the elements of a great Cameron Crowe movie, but none of the Cameron Crowe vision that made Almost Famous work. It's mostly a series of sweet moments, each capped with the right song at the right time; in fact, the soundtrack is the real star of the movie, and the right song is all there is to piece together a film that is much less than the sum of its parts.

From the start of Elizabethtown, big contrasts are evoked: death and life, success and failure are side by side, so we're told. When the movie starts, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is experiencing failure and death in spades: the shoe he spent eight years designing for Mercury (a thinly-veiled copy of Nike) has been recalled, costing his company $972 million dollars. On the verge of a suicide attempt, he learns his father has died, and Drew flies to Kentucky to retrieve the body to Oregon for cremation. On the red-eye to Louisville he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a perky flight att'ndant with a charming flair for cute lines ("I'm impossible to forget, but I’m hard to remember," she chirps). Once in Elizabethtown, Drew tries to plan a memorial while dealing with relatives who have their own agenda in addition to his manic family back in Oregon, all while facing the reality that in a few days he'll be known nationally as one of his industry's most legendary failures. Yet still he manages to connect with Claire on an all-night cell phone conversation--complete with the requisite watching of the sunrise--and to strike up a furtive romance.

So we now have death and life side by side. But despite these dramatic shifts, what sets up to be a roller coaster ride of a film flattens out to a milquetoast middle ground with no real life of its own. Drew Baylor has suffered two tragic personal losses in the course of one day, but you wouldn't know it from Bloom's lethargic performance. There's not much to Claire either. Her whole character is made up mostly of cutesy quotable lines and mysterious little smirks. In the end, Elizabethtown is a film that doesn't know what it wants to be, and unfortunately there's no payoff, other than a few memorable lines and a great soundtrack. --Dan Vancini

Customer Reviews

Etown Rocks
Loved this movie! And not just because it was filmed around my home town and state. But because it was everything I didn't expect and more.

Don't go seeing Elizabethtown for the full frontal assault of Jerry Maguire or Almost Famous. This one is subtle in the humor and long on thought. The plot is filled with pure Kentuckyiana that gives an insight into the characters. The characters ARE the plot, moving it along in a sweet, poignant adult "coming of age" story. The "suits" had a serious problem with this one because it can't be categorized. There were moments of touching sorrow but it's not a drama. There were moments of laughter, but it's not really a comedy. It's quirky and different. You'll laugh through your tears and cry through your laughing.

Someone complaining about the "lack of chemistry" between Bloom and Dunst didn't pay a whole lot of attention to things. The whole point of the love story is that it grows. That chemistry was played down until the end, as it should have been. The plot isn't about a man falling in love. It's about a man coming to grips with his past, his present, and his future. The love story is an evolutionary thing and takes a backseat to the real plot.

I truly enjoyed this movie. Cameron Crowe gave a unique perspective into the beauty of Kentucky, choosing NOT to show the usual horse farms and antebellum manses...but showing the mountains and the backroads of the state. Bloom is the right mix of sardonic and lost. Dunst offers the irritatingly perky flight attendant that shows a more rich personality later on. They meshed well together. Sarandon is a bloody hoot as the widow learning to cope with being alone. The tapestry of characters weaves a beautiful story that unfolds in layers. It'll leave you crying, laughing, and part of time well spent. I can't wait for this one to come out on DVD. I'll be first in line to purchase it.

A Movie About Real Family and Life
I LOVE the movie Elizabethtown! If you want to see a movie portraying a pie-in-the-sky family don't see this one. If you want to see a fast-paced movie don't see this one.

Some people have said Orlando Bloom's acting is flat, or lethargic. Wrong. Orlando has nailed his character once again proving he is a great actor more than just with costumes, swords, bows and arrows. He has just experienced a shocking, mind-blowing event in his life followed by finding out his Dad has just died. Emotion has not surfaced yet. Anyone who has experienced a similar life event can tell you there may not be emotion showing just yet. All that is seen is quietness and shock. His seemingly perfect life is unraveling. Then enters Claire.

Kirsten Dunst is PERFECT for this role and she performs it with spunk and irresistable charm.

The family portrayed in this movie is not perfect. Far from it. They are painfully real. Fathers and sons who don't see eye to eye. Children who are too busy living far away to make it home to see their relatives. Children who misbehave. Chaos and rocky relationships during family gatherings.

There are some words and phrases that could have been completely left out, one "F" word and one story during the funeral about a neighbor; completely pointless and not funny.

Humor is bountiful, the roadtrip is amazing, the tunes are incredible, it stirs the emotions. It was worth paying to see in the theatre and definitely worth buying. Watch it first or watch it with your kids, but not young ones.

Don't miss 60B! See Elizabethtown.

THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF 2005
Writer/Director Cameron Crowe's ("Say Anything...", "Singles," "Jerry Maguire", "Almost Famous", "Vanilla Sky") latest film met a painful death when it was released to theaters last fall. For a film that is undeniably non-controversial, it was a strangely polarizing film with one camp showering praise while its' detractors voiced seemingly endless complaints which ranged from performances, character's motivations, the film's meandering tone, to even the use of its' soundtrack. I am proudly placing myself in the first group. I have seen the film twice and while I don't think that this is a great film (or even my favorite Cameron Crowe film), it struck a profound chord with me that has remained months after seeing it. I feel that this film never had the chance it deserved and it was completely undervalued and unappreciated. Thanks to DVD, it has a second chance. I am not only anxious to see it again; I am graciously urging you to give this film a try.

The opening of the film recalls elements of "Jerry Maguire" (and to some extent, the darker tones of "Vanilla Sky") as we meet 27-year-old Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), an introverted shoe designer for a Nike-ish corporation. Drew is fired for designing a disastrous athletic shoe entitled the "Spasmotica" (envisioned to give the wearer the feeling of "walking on a cloud") and the failure of his eight years in the making design will potentially cost his company to lose 1 billion dollars. This fiasco additionally costs him his girlfriend and hours later, on the brink of committing suicide, he receives an urgent call from his sister (Judy Greer) informing him of their father's sudden death. Drew is then dispatched by his mother (Susan Sarandon) to venture to his father's small Kentucky hometown of Elizabethtown to deal with the extended family and protect his father's dying wishes. On his way to Elizabethtown, Drew meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), an extremely cheerful flight attendant who begins to point Drew in the direction of seeing life's possibilities.

"Elizabethtown" is NOT a romantic comedy, although there is a romance in it. The outcome of the film doesn't hinge on whether Drew and Claire become romantically involved. This film is about life and death itself and the baby steps Drew takes towards embracing life. Most importantly, "Elizabethtown" shows, in graceful and subtle ways, how that very embrace comes down to the power of choice. One can choose despair or happiness, and for most of the film, Drew, still contemplating suicide, skulks around in dark clothes like the specter of death while being confronted with Claire's relentless optimism, and the unconditional love from a family he barely knows. Through watching characters like Drew's mother (obviously consumed with grief over the loss of her husband plus being confronted with issues of her own mortality) to Claire herself (a much more complicated character than given credit for), the power of choice becomes more explicit and meaningful to Drew, and hopefully, the audience. The film concludes with a majestic and music filled cross-country road trip, selflessly created for Drew by Claire, to help him reconnect with the world and the life force that surges through all manner of people, places, and things.

As previously stated, many complaints about this film were steered towards its' slower pace and meandering tone. I felt that this was Crowe's artistic choice to make a film that approximated the rhythms of real life. Real life is not made up of a concisely driven narrative hurtling itself along to a conclusion. Life is a series of moments, which build upon other moments and sometimes, emotionally collide. Crowe gracefully etches out these moments in various fashions. A courtship while buying an urn. A tap dance during a memorial service. Dealing with death in a hotel where seemingly every other patron is part of a rambunctious, life-affirming wedding party. In this film, Crowe masterfully captures the "in-between" moments of Drew's journey and audiences need to give this film the patience and time it needs to fully resonate.

"Elizabethtown" is not an instant gratification movie. It is not about a payoff. It is designed for the viewer to take an emotional journey with Drew. Patient viewers will be rewarded with a deeply heartfelt film that means what it says about success, failure, family, loss and love and it ultimately provides a sense of hope in a world that desperately needs it. Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" is a love story to life.