Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews
Movie Resources
Concert Reviews
Book Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

Cameron Crowe has the incredible talent of writing “life” even in a movie about death. He has the innate ability to stir up the viewer causing him or
her to desire to live out loud and to breath as if for the first time. In his new project Elizabethtown, we get to experience this writing style in a
movie that is all about substance, love and a passion for living.

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) returns to his father’s small, hometown in Kentucky to make arrangements for his dad’s funeral and memorial. The
passing of his dad adds to the already mounting pressure of Drew’s business life and the stark reality of his failures and inadequacies.  On the trip to Kentucky he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a spontaneous, quirky flight attendant who helps Drew on his journey of self-discovery and ultimately love.

Crowe wrote this screenplay based loosely on his own life, specifically the passing of his father. This inward look has the same feel and lyricism of the other “life-to-screen” movie of Crowe’s, Almost Famous. And though music has a strong presence in both, Elizabethtown uses it not as an attribute of the characters but a blueprint for their journey. Near the end of the film Claire creates a mix-CD for Drew to use on his drive back after the funeral and it becomes a way for Bloom’s character to open his mind and heart to the world and face the man he is. Crowe describes the scene by saying, “It’s a gift given from a traveler to someone who has not traveled.  And the traveler is saying, here's the world, pick up your head, go here and listen to this song, go here and ask for Russ, and do this here because I know this is my America and I want to share it with you. And along the way hopefully Claire is going to teach him a little bit about the size of those personal problems that felt so huge at the beginning of the story. And by the end of the road trip I wanted him to be addicted to her words and need her.  And with all that humor and grace I wanted Kirsten to be giving him that gift of life.”

Elizabethtown is filmed on location in Kentucky bringing to the screen an element of beauty and splendor, which shows us a side of our great nation that we sometimes forget. Bloom puts it in these words, “It’s the America that the whole world needs to see right now. The Heartland of America, I never understood that phrase, I never understood southern hospitality until I was there.  And as a Brit I felt privileged to go to these locations. I've experienced LA and NY and those big cities all over the world but I never experienced the heartland. You can find community family and friends but it doesn't get portrayed like it does in this movie and that is why people in America should be seeing this movie now. It’s current and it’s important and there is that life there."

Elizabethtown is filled with love, laughter and tears. It is a glimpse at people and passions and served on a bed of wonderful music as only Cameron Crowe can deliver. It’s rated PG-13 for language and some sexual references. I believe everyone old enough to savor life will find this a wonderful road trip for the heart, mind and soul.

The Mungle 10/13/2005

"Matt hosts the weekly syndicated Indie Rock Radio Show Spin 180. Plus with his wife Cindy they do a weekly radio feature, The Mungles on Movies. For additional reviews and interview clips visit the website www.mungleshow.com"

For interview clips with Orlando Bloom, Cameron Crowe, Kirsten Dunst and more, visit www.mungleshow.com and click on the Elizabethtown link.