Elizabethtown is a quirky movie that is hard to pin down. I'd probably call it a romantic comedy, but it doesn't fit neatly into that genre. The movie follows Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) who has just gotten fired and gets the news that his father has passed away while visiting family in Kentucky. He goes to bring his father's body home, and meets a flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) who brings him out of the dumps and helps him appreciate what he has. This isn't a feel-good movie, however -- it's full of odd moments and bizarre images, so you never quite know what will happen next. Alas, all this quirkiness gets in the way of a coherent storyline.
Elizabethtown could have still pulled it off, if it weren't for a couple scenes that ruined everything the film had built up at that point. There is an irreverent scene at the funeral with Drew's mother (played by Susan Sarandon) that has no part in the movie. It seems to have been added just so the Academy Awared-winning actress could get more screentime, but the movie falls apart after that. I like quirky movies, but the quirks can't dominate over the plot, as is the case here.
Elizabethtown is equally culpable for dealing in trite stereotypes of small-town America. Elizabethtown is painted as a small community stuck in the 1950's, full of backward-thinking people and unbending tradition. Even as the movie tries to break out of the standard movie-making formula, it bandies about the same tired Hollywood-centric view of Middle America promulgated by writers and directors that have never lived outside of California. This shortcoming, combined with an ineffectual storyline, make
Elizabethtown fizzle long before it ends.
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