Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition)
by Cameron Crowe
List Price:
Our Price: $2.81
You Save: $6.18 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom, Susan SarandonDirector: Cameron Crowe
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
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 (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-07
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Dolby; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Touching story about the importance of family.
Summary: 5 Stars
Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) has just had a very difficult day at work. He received the hard-to-swallow news that a product he designed, though it made him a hero in the office prior to its announcement to the public, was a disaster and would cost the company an incredible sum of money. He was politely asked to shoulder the blame for the product's fate...while he was being fired. Later that night, he was swimming in a pool of self-pity when his sister called to deliver more bad news. Their father, Mitch, had died of a heart attack.
When he died, Mitch was visiting his family in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a city and a lineage that his wife and two children all but ignored. The town was small and the pace of life was slow. The people were friendly and everyone knew and loved Mitch Baylor. Drew, labeled the "responsible" one, was nominated to represent his mom (Susan Sarandon) and sister (Judy Greer) at the memorial in Elizabethtown.
Drew had to embark on a journey to a place as foreign to him as the people who lived there. Each person he met seemed to know him well, though he did not truly know any of them. That began what became a very humbling trip for Drew. The sharp contrast between big-city life and small-town life made itself evident. Drew was accustomed to his corporate surroundings, back home, where people smiled, but you never knew what to make of it. In Elizabethtown he knew they were happy and friendly people. They cared about him and his father.
On his flight to Kentucky, Drew met a flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dunst). She was extremely friendly, maybe even too friendly. Through a strange turn of events (and no one else to call), Drew and Claire connect on the phone. Claire becomes Drew's crutch in his time of need. She is the catalyst that opens his eyes to who he is, who his father was, and how important family should be.
I think Drew Baylor had expectations for the people in Kentucky. I think he expected that they all were stereotypical back-country folks who could not relate to him, nor understand the world he lived in. That was essentially why his mother and sister elected him to go in their place. They all felt that way. Claire disproved this expectation. They connected on more levels than Drew could have ever imagined. His guard dropped and he was able to appreciate the countless anecdotes and southern hospitality he received from his dad's side of the family.
He, eventually, was very touched by the warm reception he received and more so by how loved his dad was in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Drew did not know his father very well. Over the past few years life at work took on an exclusive role on Drew's time and attention, which led to a change in the father-son relationship that had been strong when Drew was a boy. He was reacquainted with his dad through family and friends in Elizabethtown. It was truly a chance for Drew to get to know his father all over again, something he should not have saved until his father had died. But Mitch Baylor was not the only one Drew got to know all over again on this trip. He also became reacquainted with himself...with a little help.
The movie was not without flaws, some of which make events unrealistic, but I quickly got over them. They were trivial things that should not concern me nor should they detract from my feelings toward this movie, which were fiercely positive.
Orlando Bloom, for the first time, stepped outside the Legolas mold into which I had him so snuggly typecast. I thought he did well as Drew Baylor.
Kirsten Dunst is another who is not normally one of my favorites, but she did well. Normally her characters are so elitest and conceited, but as Claire Coburn she was much more down to Earth. It was a nice change.
A lot of people have compared this movie to Garden State, which is not without merit. The journey (in a general sense) on which each protagonist ventures is one through a clouded sense of reality to a broader perspective that among other things emphasizes the importance of family and is lead by a new-found, outgoing female friend from a chance meeting.
Elizabethtown has a broader appeal than Garden State. The latter is more targeted to a younger audience through subject matter concerning drugs, prescription and otherwise. Elizabethtown is more about getting to know the people around you and learning the faces of those who matter most. (Though both movies feature very good soundtracks.)
I have already recommended Elizabethtown to my parents and they both said they liked it a lot. I have not recommended they see Garden State.
Summary of Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition)
DVD - MovieElizabethtown 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
Similar DVD Movies
10 Things I Hate About YouBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2010-11-02; DVD
Best price: $6.26
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: $5.61
Price in other shops:
ElizabethtownRelease date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $5.94
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: