I just saw this today, searched and couldn’t find an open thread on it, so here we go:
What I liked:
the music selections, though they did intrude on the dialogue at times;
the locations and scenery, especially during the road trip;
Looking at Orlando Bloom;
Chuck and Cindy’s wedding;
the basic story.
What I could have done without or would have rewritten:
the character of Claire irritated me a bit; it might have been because she judged people according to their first names, and also because she seemed to have stalker tendencies;
Susan Sarandon’s comedy routine and tap dance at the memorial service: no, I don’t think everyone is required to be miserable at such functions, but I couldn’t buy it. And the big flying bird that catches on fire doesn’t work for me either.
I don’t see how Claire could have had time to put together that detailed map/scrapbook/travel guide/CD collection for Drew.
So it was all right for me, but it could have been much improved.
I don’t think I need to see this movie. It can’t be any better than the poster. That Dunst girl sure has what it takes in the lower extremity department.
Orlando showed signs of almost acting in this film. He even used at leat three facial expressions, and did not emote entirely through his eyebrows.
I rather enjoyed the whole thing, although I feel a bit more judicious editing could have cut a half hour off the run-time without impacting the film at all.
And vivalostwages, I don’t think Claire really judged people by their first names. That was just her way of making small talk with the only cute guy on the red-eye to Louisville. I think she was surprised he called her; she seemed a very lonely girl with too much free time and romantic imagination. Her imaginary boyfriend was a useful shield for her so she could flirt and not risk commitment. When Drew called her and they clicked I think she was more frightened than anything else, which explains her quirky-stalking actions. The “imaginary photos” she took were her way of remembering people she never expected to see again.
Could a stewardess really just beg off from a Hawaii flight at the last minute without penalty, especially one who works for a third-rate airline? Did she have a lot of vacation time saved up?
I loved the family in Kentucky. Reminded me of my relatives around Scranton.
There were some truly spectacular moments in it… but just moments.
For every WTF moment of brillance (like the kid jumping up and down with the ‘Spasmatica’ sign as Bloom drives into town) there is a shitty stand up routine and tap dance number. (Sarandon’s character apparnetly took ONE tap class and ONE stand up class and is now doing routines? Bullshit)
Bloom needs an f-ing sword in his hand in order for me to care one tit what he’s talking about.
Did we ever find out what the heck was wrong with that shoe? We know they have been recalled but I don’t remember finding out. That really annoyed me.
The road trip was way too damn long. For christ’s sake, who didn’t see the fact that she’d be there waiting at the end of it anyhow. I really didn’t need to see Orlando Bloom attempt to make a series of different facial expressions for twenty minutes. The movie itself would have been too long at about 1h30. They cut 20 damn minutes from the film already since it’s showing at the TIFF. I can only imagine what pointless crap they cut.
The movie never seemed to be able to focus on one thing. The mother seemed to randomly come out of nowhere at varioius points. She didn’t even need to be in the movie. That whole comedy routine at the funeral wasn’t the least bit funny and was pretty much unnecessary - yes, yes, getting the two sides of the family together, blah blah. WHO CARES. And the tap dancing? Puhlease.
Orlando Bloom’s character was supposed to be some shoe wizard. He works in a friggin cubicle. It would have done a lot to enhance the illusion of success for him to at least have his own office.
Where the movie falls off tracks for me first is when his mom and sister make him go to Elizabethtown in the first place. Can’t the police or whoever just ship the damn body back to Oregon? Think of the money I just saved the movies producers.
That suicide attempt? You have a drawer full of knives. It’d be far easier just to cut your wrists or something. Or jump off a building, take your pick.
In the intrest of full disclousure, I work for the film company that distributes this movie.
I don’t see how this is any sort of Garden State rip off. It’s a Cameron Crow movie. It’s a dash of Jerry Maguire and a dash of Almost Famous.
Most people do complain about the running time but not me. When this hit the festival circuit it was called too long then and about 17 mins were cut. My first response was to say the movie needed either about another 20 minutes. We shoudl have seen more of Susan Sarandon and the sister, so we could care about them. The road trip, I feel, needed to be a lot longer. In fact I would say the road trip needed to a movie unto itself. That could have been very interesting but that would be a pretty bold movie.
My big questions, why did he need to be this huge failure at the start of the film. He could have just lost his job. The idea that he was going to commit suicide didn’t really play out as a theme. That’s why I think the road trip needed to be there in full. This was her was of putting him on the right road.
She is a bit annoying because Crowe just worships women. He makes them perfect and magical and they can heal 10,000 breaks in your heart with one smile.
But I felt the way the Kentucky family was played was really nice. It felt authentic and not mocking.
I feel like I’m the only one who genuinely liked this movie. I went thinking I’d hate it, but left feeling moved. The stand-up routine (and Surandon’s character in general) was annoying and it bothered me at first that Bloom’s American accent was little too British…but I really enjoyed it.
The biggest disappointment is the soundtrack. So many fantastic songs that were in the movie were left out of the album compilation. Wrong.
You are not the only one, I genuinely liked it , too , as did my friend I went to see it with Saturday.
I went into the movie thinking it was going to be a fluffy no brain movie, but actually got me to thinking about a lot of things, mainly because I could identify with Drew’s character pretty strongly- I lost my job last year and have ben unable to find anything else at all , and I also lost my father in May. The scene in the kitchen when he looked at the flame on the stove and thought of his father’s creamation literally put a knot in my stomach, because when I sent Dad for creamation, I had very much the same feelings.
The movie was not perfect, there were things that should have been left out and things that should have been explained (What WAS wrong with the damned shoes ??? ) But all in all, I was very pleasantly surprised.
I did think Orlando’s American accent could have used some work, he always sounded … breathless, for lack of a better word, but over all his acting was good, I thought he played thru the emotions very well and believably.
One of the coolest things for me was the fact that it was filmed just about 2 hours from my home town of Evansville IN, and I have been to many of the places shown. My friend and I kept nudging each other “Look! We’ve BEEN there!”. I would have probably bought the DVD when it comes out just on that alone(Well , OK , Orlando is pretty damned fine to look at , too…), but the content of the movie made it a definite must-own for me.
The shoe had F-ing FINS! I think that was the problem.
I took it as this shoe just looked stupid and no one at the shoe company realized it until too late. Everyone was just caught up in the momentum of “Wow!” tht no one paused and asked “Will be who buy these kinds of shoes, want a show with fins?”
That whole plot didn’t really make sense the way it was presented. The shoe has already been recalled BUT no one outside of the shoe industry knows… How does that happen? A major recall and business failure and the story breaks in a business mag? AFTER all the shoes are recalled? Huh?
I understand why people make the comparison but it is flawed. Isn’t this partially by Crowe’s real life? And since “Garden State” was just a 20 something version of the 30 something “Beautiful Girls” (complete with Natalie Portman in the same role), “Garden State” doesn’t really have a leg to stand on.
It felt ridiculously long because it was so unfocused. The road trip should have been its own movie. There’s two movies somewhere in Elizabethtown.
A movie about a guy who loses everything decides to commit suicide but is convinced by a perky flight attendant to first take a cross country road trip to discover America.
And- A movie about a disconnected young man who must go to his Father’s hometown and retrieve his body but then decides to reunite both sides of his family.
that whole sequence was fantastic… and it made me hate the movie more that there was 20 or so more minutes after that.
) But all in all, I was very pleasantly surprised.