Elizabethtown (2006, DVD)

ELIZABETHTOWN is a film trying to get too many messages across in too short a time. Being a pretty big Cameron Crowe fan (VANILLA SKY, 2001), I came into this movie with high expectations. Some of them were met (music selection, unusual use of camera on characters), but the basic story and how it all came together obviously held too many challenges even in the expert hands of someone like Mr. Crowe.

The story (if you can believe it) is about a shoe designer named Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) who just lost his employer's sneaker company nearly a billion dollars. Having dedicated the last eight years of his life to making this shoe-gone-bad, Drew heads to his apartment with suicide on his mind. But before he can kill himself, his phone rings (cliche'?) and it's his sister telling him that their father just died. Being the eldest child, he is assigned to head to Kentucky, retrieve their father's body from "the other side of the family" and prepare it for cremation. Drew decides to delay his own death while dealing with his father's. So he packs up and heads to Kentucky ...but on the flight there he runs into a beautiful (if somewhat confused) stewardess named Claire (Kirsten Dunst) who forms a strange bond with him. They chat awkwardly on the plane and Claire forces information onto Drew about how to get to Elizabethtown without getting lost (and, of course, he DOES get lost).

Eventually - after finding his way to Elizabethtown - Drew has to deal with his father's side of the family. But they're accepting, loving, and have a southern charm about them that's centered around food and family and more food.

Drew calls Claire one night and they talk all night long, then decide to meet up again. A relationship starts to blossom, but each is held back by secrets (Claire tells Drew she has a boyfriend and Drew hasn't told Claire about his monumental shoe failure.)

Getting involved in a stranger's wedding, deciding whether or not to cremate Dad, dealing with family on both sides of the U.S., finding love, accepting loss and failure, traveling across the States, refinding love, and a multitude of other items are touched on in the film. But only just.

The movie's length was obviously an issue. It was only two hours. For a film that's trying to cover so much ground, more time was needed. The impact of Drew's father's death - and Drew's travels across the U.S. with his father's ashes - lost its impact on me because of all the other side stories (his mother's near mental meltdown, his sister having to deal with their mother, coping with out-of-control children by having them watch a video on blowing-up a house, etc.)

On the upside, this is a story about life. It shows everything that goes on between birth and death and love and hate. It's beautifully edited with an excellent soundtrack. It just needed more time to help completely flesh-out all of the storylines.

Try as I might, I do my best to find great, even just very good movies only by seeing the critics positive ratings. If it is not one of the five movies nominated for the academy awards best picture, or if it is not one of Roger Ebert's top 10 of the year, I will not bother to see it. "Elizabethtown" did not fit either of these criteria, so probably it was just plain luck that I rented the DVD, after all, how bad can a Cameron Crowe movie be. My, what a wonderful surprise. Even if I did not like the love story, which I did, there is so much more to this movie. From the very beginning, Alec Baldwin informs shoe designer Drew (Orlando Bloom) that his is "a failure of mythic proportions", "972 million dollars", a catchy opening. Drew is then called to Kentucky for his father funeral. His cousin Jessie (Paul Schneider) gives a wonderful performance as the permissive father to a young son. Jessie's father is openly critical of Jessie's fathering skills. Jessie's performance as a drummer and vocalist at the memorial service for Drew's father is priceless. The song "Free Bird" is perfect for the setting. What a great bunch of character actors, starting with Bill Banyon (Bruce McGill), and the funeral director who thinks Drew is from California, and Drew's aunt and uncle. However it is Susan Sarandon who makes, albeit short, a masterful performance at the memorial with stories, and especially "Boner Bob". The music was fabulous. To me it is one of my 50 favorite movies of all time. I loved it. Hats off to Cameron Crowe.

I had never seen the movie before, and it was very interesting. Orlando Bloom without his British accent as often as possible. The movie was in excellent shape and arrived in a very timely fashion. Very pleased indeed.

Funny and Exciting. Wll make you laugh and make you cry all at once. Good for the family too! Most Definately A Chick Flick!

I like this style of movie. Relationships and romance. Life and work, finding the person that is the right match for you and learning that other people are usually OK. This movie is three stories in one. As hard as this is to do, to combine and make each fluid and interesting altogether, I think they did a great job. I epically loved the last halve hour, I'm a sucker for romance. But I must admit I loved it all.

Love this movie. Very great love story attached, and it leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling you might be longing for in a movie. Awesome soundtrack to boot!

received product quickly, and it was in great shape. this review makes me type at least 100 characters...so i am taking up space...but really all i have to say is great service.

My daughter wanted the movie for Christmas & I couldn't find it in any store near where I live, so I decided to try Ebay. The movie was exactly as it was described in the ad-new & sealed. I really liked dealing with MidwestMedia. I received the product on Christmas Eve day even though the seller's wife was having problems with her pregnancy. Even though he had personal things going on he made sure his customer was taken care of.

The movie starts out on the west coast but ends up in the heart of America. Drew Baylor is a hotshot shoe designer. He has a hot girlfriend, Jessica Biel. What more could he want, till he loses it all. His shoe falls flat, his girlfriend dumps him and to top it all off, his father passes away in Kentucky, his father's hometown. The family depends on Drew to go to Kentucky to bring home his father's body for cremation. Only one problem, Kentucky. His family and friends in Kentucky want to honor their favored son, Mitch Baylor. Drew must now contend with the Kentucky family wishes as well as his own family wishes. How will he satisfy both groups? Luckily, he meets a quirky little country girl who happens to be a flight attendant on Drew's flight. She teaches Drew about life as she helps Drew decide what is important in his own life. You have to love a small town that waves at total strangers as they drive through town. This movie is a wonderful family film that you should share with someone you love.

i bought this movie,mainly because i wanted to see how paula deen was in it(food network star),and found her character to be quite believable. even better,however,was the strange quirkiness of the whole movie.it was a real sleeper ,in my opinion not enough people knew about it.the underlying theme is family and how they are always going to be in your life(no matter how strange).kirstin dunst and orlando bloom's interaction was delightful,and susan sarandon was surprising and amazing......

I had watched this movie and was very moved by it. I decided to buy some copies of the movie to share with family. It took 3 buyers to get three copies but all the buyers were very good to work with. I got all my movies at very good prices and all were still in the original plastic wrap.

Sharon

It was touching. Funny. Charming. Appropriate for the girls (and since they love Orlando Bloom...). This was a movie we can all sorta relate to. I think it was under-rated at the box office. Good movie to have. Easy to watch over & over again.

I NEVER GOT IT, AND HAD TO START A ITEM NOT RECEIVED COMPLAINT ON THE SELLER! NOT ONLY THAT, HE GAVE ME NEGATIVE FEEDBACK THOUGH I HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG. TO TOP IT OFF, I HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY MONEY BACK....

A nice story of fresh starts and the humor that exists in all families. We all are a little disfuctional and this shows the humor that can happen even at the saddest of times. This movie isn't for everyone, but found that the more I watched it, the more that I liked it.

This movie is really a fun movie to watch you never know from one scene to the next what is going to happen.

My mom is a big LOVER of Paula Deen, and this is the first movie that Paula has acted in. My mom is bedridden, but she is coming here to TN for the holidays by means of special transportation. When she mentioned she would like to see ELIZABETHTOWN, I had no idea what it was! But I went on Ebay,found the movie (reasonably priced) AND won the auction! Shipment was very prompt, less than a week. I am saving the movie for when my mom is here with me for Christmas, we are going to drink hotchocolate and eat Christmas cookies, and watch ELIZABETHTOWN! So I would like to thank the seller AND EBAY! for the wonderful memories you helped me create! Thanks, Lottsajoy@bellsouth.net

I feel sorry for both the seller and the buyer (ME) in this case. The seller says he mailed out the DVD of Elizabethtown on Oct. 28th. After two wees time... I wrote him and wanted to know when he is mailing out the DVD. He wrote back and said it was already mailed and I should have received it. I wrote back and told him I never got it... and his answer was... " I mailed it out to you, do not have another to send, sorry!" Now I do not have the DVD and am out the price of it and the shipping. Have issued a complaint to Half.com, which went to Ebay... and I am waiting to see what the outcome will be. Elizabeth

Loved it, a great film.The characters had depth and meaning.Some my call it a "chick flick but I truly enjoyed it.Kirsten Dunst is fantastic.

wanted to see paula deen in the movie i have heard about and did not know it was available until i seen it on e bay and purchased it ----the seller was great in delivering the cd

I decided to buy "Elizabethtown" after renting and watching it. It is a very quirky film in the vein of "Garden State". (If you liked "Garden State" you will love this film.) Everyone in Drew's (played by Orlando Bloom) family is rather eccentric or dysfunctional in a down to earth, fun loving kind of way.

Drew is very despondant over the fact that his shoe design failed miserably costing his company 970 million dollars. (He tries to commit suicide with a knife duct taped to an exercise machine). At the last minute Drew answers a phone call that tells him his father has died.

While on a flight to his native Elizabethtown, Kentucky for his fathers funeral, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst). Claire is the flight attendant and Drew the only passenger. Claire is unstopably positive and finally gets through to Drew.

Without spoiling this film entirely, I'll just finish by saying that the roadmap Claire puts together for Drews long journey back to California (via route 66) is pure genious and should make Rand McNally re-think the whole industry. "Elizabethtown" is a quirky, romantic comedy (if I must categorize) that I think everyone will enjoy, not just the girls.

I bought the movie for my mother for Mother's Day. She loves Paula Deen and she loved the movie. I did too. Great seller and fast shipping! I would definitely buy a movie from ebay again.

I bought the DVD to see Orlando. I found the movie to be very confusing. Going off in different directions. Some great songs in the soundtrack. Film CAN NOT be all bad when you have U2 in the soundtrack. I did not care for scenes with Orlando & Kirsten's characters playing around when his characters deceased father in the urn. Disrespectful. Kirsten's character? As a diabetic, I CAN NOT TAKE THAT MUCH SUGAR. OK, the DVD package. I have 2 pet peeves with DVD packages & this films package had them both: 1. The flip down hatches to open the plastic package. 2. NO CHAPTER SHEET. Paramount apparently did not want to care about the package since the film did not do that well in theaters. Poor way to treat any film let alone the people who purchase this package.

This is a good chick flick. I don't generally watch these types of movies, but this one was outstanding.

Basically, this movie wasnt near long enough for the amount of info the director is trying to lay on you. It is like, "whew, whoa, wow, what the heck is going on?" Just really not a favorite, and not worth buying on DVD!!! Thanks for reading my opinion, and if you'ld like to check out my store, I am permitted by ebay to provide you a link here:
http://stores.ebay.com/SellsEveryTime