Elizabethtown (2005) – 3/5
I heard this movie compared to “Garden State” and while I can see that, I think “Garden State” is considerably better. I think the tone is more consistent in “GS” and the acting is better also.
Orlando Bloom doesn’t pull it off. I don’t think he can ‘do’ emotion: the scenes requiring any type of bigger emotions from him fell pretty flat and akward.
It didn’t seem like this movie cd decide if it wanted to be serious, funny, introspective, etc. In the end, that means it’s none more often than not.
Kirsten Dunst was particularly good to me. I normally don’t think too much of her, but she did a good job.
SPOILERS:
The best part of this movie was the last ~30 mins where he’s driving across country w/ his dad’s urn. The tone completely changes IMO and for the better. Invoking images of him w/ his dad and their love (which is missed for the rest of the movie not knowing what kind of relationship they had…which may be the point???) and the beauty of the time alone despite the death of one of them. 🙂
The ‘fiasco’ of the shoe isn’t believable. No company wd put so much behind one person’s creation who is just a guy w/a cubby hole of a desk. If they did, they wdn’t have made it that far. Also, they wd have done test marketing, etc. It just distracted that it was so unbelievable.
Also, the mom’s ‘conversion’ near the end from high-strung widow to practially stand-up comic was awkward.