Elizabethtown (Full Screen Edition)
by Cameron Crowe
List Price:
Our Price: $4.74
You Save: $8.24 (63%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom, Susan SarandonDirector: Cameron Crowe
Brand: Paramount
Cinematographer: John Toll
Producer: Cameron Crowe
Writer: Cameron Crowe
Producer: Andy Fischer
Producer: Donald J. Lee Jr.
Producer: Paula Wagner
Producer: Tom Cruise
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-07
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Elizabethtown (Full Screen Edition)
Movie Review: Cameron Crowe dusts off some photo albums
Summary: 5 Stars
I wouldn't be writing this if it weren't for the American icon, Cameron Crowe. He's responsible, and I say that in the most positive way, for the rock epic Almost Famous, the most precise and realistic romance picture Singles, and the '80s iconography featured in both Say Anything and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. More recently, and four years after his last movie, he's responsible for Elizabethtown.
Elizabethtown just may be the first film I've seen where I didn't feel like I was watching an actual film. The entire movie is unconventional, non formulaic and utterly beautiful. Crowe goes home to the heartland of Kentucky and literally drags the audience along on a road trip. A road trip in which, if your hand touches the dial on that radio, you're likely bound for a light slap.
Here's the deal: Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is informed of the disaster that is his shoe design. A small recall that just so happens to result in a "you can call it," billion-dollar catastrophe falls into his lap. To put it lightly, Drew is fired and winds up at home with a suicide plan on the table, his only true escape. Then, he receives a call from his family informing him of his father's death. Depressed, downtrodden Drew takes the burden of having to travel to his father's hometown of Elizabethtown, Ky. to make arrangements for his father's corpse. On the way, he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant, who makes his trip - somewhat interesting.
To answer everyone, no, this is nothing like Garden State. To anyone that disagrees, well, go see the film. As for those who have seen the film and still disagree, well, to each is own. Elizabethtown has a thick storyline that weaves in and out, something critics are already panning. Unfortunately, this is true. Fortunately, this is also false. Crowe's screenplay takes Drew and the audience to the lifestyles of small town living and, by the end of the film, on the road across America. Elizabethtown has romance, comedy and the American dream all rolled up in one.
Imagine the happy parts of On the Road with a killer soundtrack.
Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst work well together. Bloom triumphs - his looks, his emotions and his interactions flow brilliantly. On the other hand, Dunst breaks with the more stoic parts in recent years and takes on the role of a country sweetheart with pride. When she smiles, the entire cast does. Also on board, Susan Sarandon and old-timer Bruce McGill roll in some memorable moments too.
No Cameron Crowe film works without a genius soundtrack. My Morning Jacket, Elton John, Tom Petty and The Hollies all fill in the necessary voids for emotional escapism. But the real hero to the sound is Nancy Wilson (of Heart), Cameron Crowe's wife. Her score to the film tightens some really great scenes, and I might even buy that over the initial soundtrack.
There is something about this film. Whether it is the randomness of some scenes, the moments I might have related to, or the portrayal of America, there is something ultimately universal about it. Maybe it's like the family dinner on Sunday when you were ten or twelve. Maybe it's the way we look at sunsets. Or perhaps Cameron Crowe just made another really great movie. One thing's certain: Elizabethtown met my expectations and surprised me on many levels.
I recommend advise.
Summary of Elizabethtown (Full Screen Edition)
JUST AFTER HAVING BEEN FIRED FROM HIS JOB, DREW RECEIVES NEWS THAT HIS FATHER HAS JUST DIED & HE MUST VISIT HIS FAMILY IN HIS HOMETOWN OF ELIZABETHTOWN, KY. ON HIS WAY TO PICK UP HIS FATHERSBODY HE MEETS AN EFFERVESCENT FLIGHT ATTENDANT WHO, ALONG WITHHIS FAMILY, HELPS HIM DISCOVER THE TRUE MEANING OF HAPPINESS.Elizabethtown has all of the elements of a great Cameron Crowe movie, but none of the Cameron Crowe vision that made Almost Famous work. It's mostly a series of sweet moments, each capped with the right song at the right time; in fact, the soundtrack is the real star of the movie, and the right song is all there is to piece together a film that is much less than the sum of its parts.
From the start of Elizabethtown, big contrasts are evoked: death and life, success and failure are side by side, so we're told. When the movie starts, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is experiencing failure and death in spades: the shoe he spent eight years designing for Mercury (a thinly-veiled copy of Nike) has been recalled, costing his company $972 million dollars. On the verge of a suicide attempt, he learns his father has died, and Drew flies to Kentucky to retrieve the body to Oregon for cremation. On the red-eye to Louisville he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a perky flight att'ndant with a charming flair for cute lines ("I'm impossible to forget, but I?m hard to remember," she chirps). Once in Elizabethtown, Drew tries to plan a memorial while dealing with relatives who have their own agenda in addition to his manic family back in Oregon, all while facing the reality that in a few days he'll be known nationally as one of his industry's most legendary failures. Yet still he manages to connect with Claire on an all-night cell phone conversation--complete with the requisite watching of the sunrise--and to strike up a furtive romance.
So we now have death and life side by side. But despite these dramatic shifts, what sets up to be a roller coaster ride of a film flattens out to a milquetoast middle ground with no real life of its own. Drew Baylor has suffered two tragic personal losses in the course of one day, but you wouldn't know it from Bloom's lethargic performance. There's not much to Claire either. Her whole character is made up mostly of cutesy quotable lines and mysterious little smirks. In the end, Elizabethtown is a film that doesn't know what it wants to be, and unfortunately there's no payoff, other than a few memorable lines and a great soundtrack. --Dan Vancini
10 Things I Hate About YouBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2010-11-02; DVD
Best price: $6.17
Price in other shops:
Jerry MaguireTeam Marketing; Release date: 1996-12-13; DVD
Best price: $3.63
Price in other shops:
Garden StateFOX Home Entertainment; Release date: 2004-12-28; Published: 2004-12-01; DVD
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Failure to Launch (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-06-27; Published: 2006-06-01; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Almost FamousMCA; Release date: 2001-03-13; Published: 2001-03-01; DVD
Best price: $5.11
Price in other shops:
The Weather Man (Widescreen Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-02-21; Published: 2006-02-01; DVD
Best price: $0.93
Price in other shops:
Elizabethtown - Volume 2Release date: 2006-02-07; Music CD
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops:
ElizabethtownRelease date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
WimbledonUniversal Studios; Release date: 2004-12-28; Published: 2004-12-01; DVD
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops:
A Lot Like Love (Widescreen Edition)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2005-08-23; DVD
Best price: $3.87
Price in other shops: