B-

Review shortly.

Man, what a disappointment. I was really looking forward to this one, and went in hoping to like it, ignoring the reviews. And...well, it just kinda sucked. Every character seemed flat and most were pretty annoying. The script was borderline terrible. Some moments just made me cringe. Just outrageous, silly stuff. Not much to like, except the soundtrack. And it was made pretty well. But where it matters - story, characters, actions, dialog, etc - it's mundane and mediocre at best. I did rather enjoy the ending, though. The trip thing. probably C- or so.

I loved this movie. I plan on writing a full review later, but it was a hilarious, well-made and touching film with a standout performance from Kirsten Dunst. The soundtrack was amazing and is possibly one of the best of the year.

9/10 (A-)

Meh. Kirsten Dunst was terrific and the film contained some scenes that worked really well (Dunst and Orlando Bloom's all-night phone conversation showing that exciting feeling of a new crush, Bloom's road trip with his "father"), but the film is disjointed and never decides what kind of movie it wants to be. Bloom is also far too bland to draw sympathy in the lead role. A passable effort, but a disappointment considering the writer/director. C+

So...can we say...Crowe's worst?

I still liked it more than Vanilla Sky.

Obviously I'd disagree because I thought Vanilla Sky was a superb piece of filmmaking. Not very accessible, but very well-made.

C+/B-

Fluffy, but very weak. Orlando Bloom is still annoying, Kirstin is still a decent actress.

Oh, and Vanilla Sky sucked. So this isn't quite Crowe's worst.

Letdown.

I'll still be seeing this. I'm a little bit sick (should not have went out Friday...), and the last thing I feel like doing is sitting in a theater. I hope I like it better than most of you.

My grade is a B-/C+

my review is written. hopefully, it will be up by tonight.

B- from me. A seriously flawed piece of filmmaking. What hurts the most is that it could have, should have, been much much better.

Okay - it happened, I gave in and let myself be dragged out to see Elizabethtown tonight.

Surprise - I loved it!

I really enjoyed the hyper-emotional glow that Crowe maintains over this whole fragile enterprise.

Even Orlando Bloom didn't irritate me like usual - though I think Cameron Crowe discovered a successful approach to his acting - let him play the girl's part - and he was very believable at it, indeed. And Kirsten Dunst, great as always, plays the other role well...

It's funny to read comments labelling this a "chick flick" type movie, because it's really about love & grief - hardly what you'd call gender specific experiences.

What a week of great October movies! This is the capper, one I'd had very little hope for, but turned out to be special...

5 out of 5.

finally reviewed it.

http://www.worldofkj.com/reviews/Arsala ... thtown.php

C+

Elizabethtown reminded me a bit of Vanilla Sky, in the sense that it was judged far too harshy by people expecting another Almost Famous or Jerry MaGuire, but as a film on it's own, it's not bad at all.

Like all Cameron Crowe films, the soundtrack was great, with Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac featured, and the story was one that I could relate too. Bloom was surpringly decent, and did a believable American accent. I think the guy gets some undeserved flack. He's not god awful. It's also a shame the film isn't going over better, because I think Kirsten Dunst probably would be a strong contender for a nomination.

I felt the story was good. Not great, but good.

B

I got dragged, to see it with my sister and her friend, because otherwise my mom wouldn't have let. So I was really not looking forward to it. But it was okay. I do love Kirsten Dunst, she was great, Orlando Bloom was okay, not bad actually. Overall it was enjoyable, not fanastic.

B/B-

Dear Cameron Crowe, if you ever decide to make another autobiographical piece about yourself, can you please not talk about yourself and concentrate on the other people in your life, because they are interesting. Regards “Der-Fred”. P.S. do not recast Orlando Bloom.

Bloom plays Drew, someone who has just caused the shoe company he works for to lose $972m. He gets “supposedly” fired; so he goes home to kill himself. Upon doing the actual act, his sister calls to inform him that his father has died. He gets sent to collect his father’s ashes where his father died and grew up, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. On the flight over he meets Clare (Kirsten Dunst). At first she annoyingly helps him with directions to get to Elizabethtown. Once there we meet a bunch of ignorant townsfolk who idolize his father and do not believe in cremation. That night, he calls Clare and they hit it off.

After the euphoria of negativity from the “Toronto Film Festival” for being overlong (3 hours), Cameron Crowe went on a film cutting exercise. An interesting premises it maybe but Elizabethtown goes around in circles and circles but never arrives at its destination. Bloom is an extremely annoying actor to watch. He doesn’t have the capacity to handle a lead role, especially one like this. Dunst is a welcome site. She has had more experience and it does show. All the supporting actors are vastly underused. Sarandon, Greer and Baldwin have all the good (although minor) parts and are great to watch. Sarandon does have a ten minute speech in there somewhere, however her composure and finesse makes this rather enjoyable and funny. From an audience point of view, it would have been better to juice out a few of the storylines involving Sarandon’s character. The last 30 minutes feel like an episode of The Amazing Race. Crowe also overdoes the use of music. There is a lot of it. At first its enjoyable, but then its like, ‘are you going to tell the story’.

The film is too annoying to be sentimental as well. And with tepid acting from Bloom, who is in every scene, it’s hard to enjoy this film. For what its worth, this is a decent film for a male to see, as the father/son relationship is a rather interesting point and a touching aspect but ultimately, the film is a pointless exercise about Crowe’s life.

D+/C-

The movie was much better than expected. It sure had some weak parts but there were many great parts too. I loved Kirsten Dunst, she was great! Bloom wasn't to bad too. A nice surprise. A-

C


This one is certainly the biggest disappointment of the entire 2005 to me. I think Cameron Crowe is a gifted filmmaker. I actually think Vanilla Sky is a really good and underrated film. So I can hardly fathom how he could come up with a piece of mediocrity like this one.

Let me just say that I hope that Orlando Bloom will never get an acting job in Hollywood again. You think you have seen him being bland before? Well, not until you have seen Elizabethtown where he exceeds his own previous blandness. Seriously, I find Paul Walker more likeable than him (even though just slightly), so that does say something. As far for the movie itself, it is hard to review it without mentioning Garden State. In fact, I would consider Elizabethtown a poor man's Garden State. The parallels are there. A young man who cannot find his place in life returns back "home" for the funeral of his rather estranged parent and falls in love with a quirky girl who helps him to rediscover his life.

Sadly, all the elements of the story that worked in Garden State didn't work in Elizabethtown. Garden State engaged me, made me think and left me with a smile in my face. Elizabethtown never connected to me emotionally, not for a single scene. I didn't feel chemistry between Dunst and Bloom at all. The great chemistry between Portman and Braff is what helped Garden State a lot. Kirsten Dunst herself was pretty decent, but I have seen her better before as well. Susan Sarandon is wasted and her long speech about her husband towards the end of the film is way too overdrawn and a bit ridiculous.

Now one thing that actually worked in Elizabethtown sometimes was the humor. I laughed a couple of times and the offbeat and quirky humor (á la Garden State) mostly worked for me, so no complaints here. Furthermore, I must mention that the movie had a great soundtrack, just like all Cameron Crowe movies seem to have. Those two are pretty much the only redeeming features of the movie.

I was hoping for some enlightment, some nice emotional punch towards the end...but nada. The movie always remained disjointed and lukewarm. The final "road trip" of Bloom with his father's ashes was a bit out-of-place and hurt the pacing even more. By the end, I simply felt indifferent and could care less about what happened to the characters. It definitely was unlike what I felt by the end of Garden State.

Didn't help up well during a second viewing. Especially the road trip at the end was muuuch longer than the first time, heh. B

Wasnt what i was expecting. It was somewhat enjoyble!

Kristin Dunst was great and Orlando just OK

B-

Boner Bob killed the movie for me. Kirsten was amazing though

I actually found that part to be one of the rather amusing ones in the film.

It was funny, but it killed the mood of the film for me.. I found what she did to be so disrespectful and ffound it hard to believe that the tradtional family would clap and be head over heels over her actions.

Well, the film never set any mood for me, so I guess it was easier to accept, heh. I actually found the whole speech/dance of Susan Sarandon too overdrawn, out of place and unnecessary.