Elizabethtown

JESUS CHRIST!! Cameron what have you done! This film can be described with two words: unnatural and kitsch. Unnatural character behaviour, unnatural dialogues, unnatural situations. At times it was really unbearable and towards the end I was praying that this plastic kitsch would finish already. Orlando Bloom showed once again what a faceless actor he is, the whole time he looked like he wandered into the film purely by accident and if he doesn't enrich his acting register in the future with more than just the look of a shy guy, I'm afraid his acting career will soon go down the drain. On the other hand, there’s the charming Kirsten Dunst, whenever she appeared, she lit up the whole scene like the sun with her immediacy and charisma. It is only thanks to her and the fact that Crowe still has a great way with music (again, very pleasant, as is usual in his films) that Elizabethtown can be survived in one viewing, albeit in my case with a lot of persuasion. And I didn't expect it, but unfortunately I have to conclude: Elizabethtown is the first bad film from the creator of the wonderful Singles. We all stumble sometimes. (01.10.2006)

Cameron Crowe knows how to impress the viewer, or rather a certain group of viewers. To some people, Elizabethtown will seem like contrived sentimental nonsense, to others, it’ll be a sincere journey straight from the heart. I belong to the second group, so I can't be anything but satisfied with the result. The love story is beautifully ordinary and natural, embellished with clever dialogues. Orlando Bloom is surprisingly captivating and Kirsten Dunst delivers the best and most likeable performance of her career. Similarly, Susan Sarandon is excellent and her tap dancing performance is brilliant. A film that warms the heart, especially for the romantically inclined, but will be completely inaccessible to cynics. (27.06.2006)

A beautifully relaxed romance about a guy who causes a billion-dollar loss for his company and finds an incredibly positive girl. Despite the intimidating running time, it doesn't get boring (even though maybe the fire towards the end was a bit too much) and thanks to Kirsten Dunst's eyes and Orlando Bloom's acting talent, it entertains and evokes a pleasantly melancholic mood in the last twenty minutes. (12.03.2006)

Cameron Crowe is a woman. Well, okay, that’s a bit unfair to him and also to women, but I seriously felt that the film Elizabethtown, like We Bought a Zoo, was directed by a woman. Both films are very romantic and very sensitive. They manage to strike the right chord and evoke feelings you experienced when you first truly fell in love. Both films are bittersweet, warranting tissues, and ultimately a bit pathetic, although I think they possess the right emotion. They can be quite balanced and have interesting characters. Orlando Bloom is definitely not an actor I particularly love, but this role just suited him. The same goes for Kirsten Dunst. She’s so wonderfully relaxed that I liked her, even though she’s not my favorite actress and will never truly be my Mary Jane. But that doesn’t matter. Her Claire is perfectly quirky, the ideal remedy for poor Drew, whose life is falling apart. He made a million-dollar fiasco at work, his father has just died, and he attempted suicide. No, Cameron Crowe doesn’t come from pleasant things. Drew goes to Elizabethtown, his father's hometown, to have his body cremated and take him home. There, he encounters an incredibly extensive family, relatives he never knew before. He discovers his family, himself, and of course, love. Thanks to the humorous characters and situations, the film is more than bearable. When it comes to romantic films, I still think this is quite tolerable compared to other American productions. It’s no Love Actually, but it’s still good. (01.03.2013)