Elizabethtown 2005

      Shoe designer Drew Baylor has caused a loss of almost one billion dollars to his company.  He decides that his only recourse is to commit suicide.  Just as he is at his lowest and he has decided to die, he receives a phone call from his sister.  She tells him that his father has just died in Elizabethtown.  He travels on an empty red eye flight and meets the flight attendant Claire Colburn.  She changes his view and perspective of life and she is very chatty!!

 

     This film is about real people and how they react.  They laugh, cry, encounter despair but also have times of triumph.  Orlando Bloom tells his story with many facial expressions.  Sometimes these expressions can say more than words.  Kirsten Dunst brings some unreality but also needed charm.  Families can be weird but they can also find solutions and come together as a team. 

 
     There is contemplation of suicide, the death of a father, the grief of a mother and sister.  References to sexuality, sometimes romantically but also in rude contexts.  Drunken boy talk, women in scanty clothing.  Characters use mild language out of frustration, anger and occasional excitement.  Characters are visibly drunk during a weekend-long party.  5* (I really liked this movie)  

 

123 min, Comedy directed and written by Cameron Crowe with Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Bruice McGill Judy Greer, Jessica Biel, Paul Schneider, Loudon Wainwright III, Gaylord Sartain, Jed Rees, Paula Dean Dan diggers, Alice Marie Crowe.

Note:  Imdb 6.4* out of 10* with 66,892 reviews, 28% with 176 critics 66% with 352,622 audience scores, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media, Cynthia Fuchs, 2* out of 5*, age 14+, 3* sex, 3* language, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, empire online 4* Simon Braund, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 637 reviews.

Special Note:  Judy Greer plays Orlando Bloom’s younger sister but she is two years older than Bloom.  During shooting a scene in a cemetery, filming was interrupted due to an unexpected rain storm.  Crowe suggested they shoot the scene anyway because it looked more beautiful and natural.  This film shows an American Airlines 747, this plane was discontinued and the last flight was on 12/29/94.  Recurring absent fathers have been a feature of Crowe's movies since his own father James Crowe died in July of 1989.