Elizabethtown

Review by Clint Morris

At the start of writer/director Cameron Crowe's latest flick, Kirsten Dunst's character explains what the term 'Ice Cream' means.

She says it's anything that puts a bit of a quick smile to someone's dial - in her case, hearing something nice about herself - something that's really nice while it lasts, but is over in five minutes.

Elizabethtown is an Ice Cream, but in contrast to the meaning, you will remember it five minutes after the curtains close. You'll remember it for days later.

If anything, this is that flavour of ice cream that you tried once, loved, but was never able to track down again. The taste may just stay with you forever.

After the disastrous mess of Vanilla Sky - to be fair that was someone else's lexis he was taking to the screen - Crowe returns to form with a customary melancholy tale of self-discovery and life-lessons, stamped into the postmark of a melodious postcard.

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) has just caused the shoe company he works for to lose roughly about a billion dollars. As a consequence, he's fired (Alec Baldwin in another scene-stealing cameo as a sleazy boss) and accordingly, dumped by girlfriend and fellow employee Ellen (Jessica Biel).

Later that night, seconds away from doing away with himself, Drew receives a phone call from his sister (Judy Greer) - Dad has died. Drew, being the oldest, has to return home to Dad's small Kentucky hometown of Elizabethtown, to collect his body.

Along the way (read: on the airplane) he meets a spunky motor mouth flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dusnt). Not surprisingly, she re-enters his life when he arrives in Elizabethtown.

If you're a sucker for comfort food, probably best to buy a ticket for the latest Sandy Bullock or Uma Thurman.

This, like most of Crowe's films, is a movie-buff's movie. From the characters, to the well-placed music (ordered by Crowe's musician wife, Nancy Wilson), and notably, the very un-studio like direction it takes - how refreshing it is to watch a film that's as unpredictable as it is non-typical - it's an art exhibition on show in Cinema 8.

There's something real about this one. The characters, the chemistry between the leads, the uncertainty of knowing whether we're headed in the right direction, the confusion that overshadows the grieving process. It's all there. And with the help of the film, you'll go through every emotion possible within it's couple of hours. You'll laugh at the heretical family, you'll whimper as they begin to gradually grieve, you'll feel stimulated as its lead character finds his footing again.

Bloom - someone I personally haven't thought much of to date - really shines with his subtle performance here. He's got the Yankie accent down, and the mystified desperado thing sinks right through his skinny surface. Better is Kirsten Dunst, who shines as his unlikely suitor. She's just adorable, and stays just low enough below the 'annoying' mark to do the character justice.

Probably the finest in the film though is Susan Sarandon, in her small role as Baylor's mother. In a pivotal scene near the end, she clicks her shoes and has an audience in either tears or absorbed in goosebumps. It's a magnificent moment for Sarandon.

Granted, Elizabethtown isn't Almost Famous or Jerry Maguire. It doesn't move as slickly as those, and it's story isn't as polished. In some respects, it almost seems to be a series of unconnected sequences cross-stitched together.

Yet, as a whole, it looks pretty good to me, and I'm almost willing to claim it as one of the better films of the year.

4 out of 5

Elizabethtown
Australian release: Thursday the 3rd of Novembe, 2005.
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Jessica Biel.
Director: Cameron Crowe.
Website: Click here.

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