Cameron Crowe makes movies — Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky — about honesty,
loyalty, love and redemption. Accept them or reject them, but you can never
accuse the filmmaker of being anything less than sincere. It is this very
quality that makes his latest work, Elizabethtown, worthwhile. Though it is unquestionably a flawed film, it
contains such a sense of goodwill that we wind up forgiving it its faults. Goodwill is something the film’s main
character, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), seeks. Responsible for a major
business debacle, the former whiz kid is so despondent that he contemplates
suicide. Just when he thinks things couldn’t get any worse, he learns
that his father has died while visiting his hometown of Elizabethtown, Ky.
Dispatched by his mother (Susan Sarandon) to retrieve his father’s
ashes, Drew meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a somewhat overbearing
flight attendant. Starting up a relationship with her is the last thing on
Drew’s mind as he reconnects with the various members of his family,
many of whom he doesn’t remember and who have radically different
ideas about how his beloved father should be remembered. At times the film seems to go in at least three
different directions at once, reflecting Drew’s disjointed life.
Bloom does a fine job of capturing his character’s barely contained
sense of desperation, holding it together in the face of the many changes
that assail him. Dunst is also good in a difficult role; skirting
irritation throughout, she is ultimately charming. Bloom and Dunst’s
chemistry is so effective that we can overlook the fact that
Sarandon’s character is severely underwritten and the film is a bit
too obvious at times. Its message is a positive one, delivered with heart,
and that’s enough.
Also in theaters this week. . .
Domino [R] Matinee idol
Laurence Harvey’s wild child, Domino Harvey exchanges a life of
privilege to become part of an aggressive group of bounty hunters. ShowPlace East,
Parkway Pointe
The Fog [PG-13] On the
centennial of a shipwreck carrying lepers, the town that was responsible
for the tragedy is overrun by a strange fog and the wrath of the dead
seafarers’ revenge. ShowPlace East,
Parkway Pointe
The Greatest Game Ever Played [PG] A David and Goliath golf story about the 1913 U.S. Open
victory of young Francis Ouimet. ShowPlace
West
A History of Violence [R]
Tom Stall lived the simple life, until an armed man entered his restaurant
forcing him to defend his patrons. Stall is a hero, until a visitor enters
his establishment making Stall question everything he knows including his
own identity. ShowPlace West
Proof [PG-13] After
Catherine’s father, a disturbed math genius, dies, she tangles with
the idea of sharing his legacy of mental illness. ShowPlace West
Waiting [R] A group of rambunctious food
service workers fight the good fight — avoiding adulthood. Parkway Pointe
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [G] Wallace and Gromit are back in this stop-animation comedy where
an overzealous rabbit threatens the annual Giant Vegetable Competition. ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East
This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2005.
