Dir: Cameron Crowe

Cast: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin

One of the very first lines of this film was “There’s a big difference between a failure and a fiasco”. I was hoping that this film would be neither of the two. Unfortunately the line was said by Orlando Bloom’s incredibly phoney American accent (which has to be heard to be believed). However, I had good reason to feel optimistic.

This film was directed by Cameron Crowe, whose recent films consist of Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. It also featured two of Hollywood’s legendary heavyweights, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon. Regrettably, my optimism was never fulfilled.

The story centred around Drew Baylor (Bloom), a shoe designer, who loses his company $974 million on a personal design he assumed would be a success. He then, during a suicide attempt, finds out his father has died. So, he flies to his Dad’s former home Elizabethtown, Kentucky to attend the memorial. On the way he meets a flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) who helps him to deal with his broken life.

The main downfall of this film was that it had no specific plot direction. If the films objective was to confuse the audience with inconsequential sub-plots, then it did its job. Though, this wasn’t the case. I spent a lot of the time waiting for a twist that wasn’t there.

Crowe’s cinematography was good but also failed to relate to the film. During a particular love scene, the focus was clearly on the urn filled with his dad’s ashes. So, I then started to believe that the story was deeper as Crowe is forcing you to look at the object. I began to think it was about Bloom coping with his father’s death and the fact that he needed to cry. This idea was quickly eliminated in a very disrespectful scene where Bloom and Dunst frolic in a graveyard. Also, the emotional memorial was made up of an erection joke, a rock band, a flaming eagle and a tap-dancing routine from the bereaved widow (Sarandon).

There were times during the film where I laughed, but I was laughing incredulously at the poor fusion of comedy and a son coping with his father’s death. 

With Crowe at the helm, the acoustic-driven soundtrack was a good device for emotion and worked well. Although I do wonder if Sarandon and Baldwin read the script before they accepted their roles. It is frustrating to see good actors set themselves up for such criticism that this film is surely to receive.

After Kingdom Of Heaven, Bloom needed a hit to succeed as a big draw. However, if this was that vehicle for Bloom, the car didn’t even start.

Overall, the film dragged way too much to hold the viewers attention. People were shuffling uncomfortably after, what appeared to be the end turned into a long, drawn out road trip. There were too many sub-plots and a distinct lack of a coherent narrative. Many of the loose ends were left untied.

The tagline to this film was about “finding yourself” and this was a film that never even really found its feet.   

Discuss this movie now at the Pure Movies Forum!