Review: Orlando Blooms In 'Elizabethtown'

'Elizabethtown' (PG-13) (out of four popcorns)

"Elizabethtown" is nothing at all what you would expect from the commercials and trailers, and for me, that is a good thing.

In fact, for the first 20 minutes I wasn't quite sure I was in the right movie, but the end redeems any missteps made during Cameron Crowe's apparent love song to his father.

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom trying on a pretty good American accent) is a hotshot shoe designer whose shining moment goes black when his athletic shoe debuts to disastrous reviews. His musings on the difference between a failure and a fiasco lead to a rather amusing attempt at suicide, interrupted by the news that his father, Mitch, has died and his mother (Susan Sarandon) and sister (Judy Greer) want him to go to Elizabethtown, Ky., to claim the body.

Still determined to end it all, Drew temporarily bends to familial duty and takes a trip to what is, for him, a foreign land full of Kentucky kin who all adored his dad. They welcome Drew with open arms and lots of home-cooked food, but when he wants to cremate his Dad's body and take him away, he meets up with a heap of resistance.

Bloom is terrific as a fish-out-of-water guy on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He seems a bit extreme, until we experience Claire (Kirsten Dunst) -- a perky flight attendant who treads a fine line between being endearing and aggravating.

Claire latches onto Drew, suspecting a kindred spirit. Her try-anything spirit compliments his all-or-nothing view of the world and he begins to see his father and his extended family through new eyes with her help.

A road trip with Drew's dad -- carefully and minutely choreographed by Claire -- demonstrates Crowe's brilliance as a director. It is touching, funny, illuminating and a musical odyssey through the oddities of America and of the human soul.

When "Elizabethtown" is good, it is very, very good. But Crowe often loses track of his narrative and drifts off into eccentric musings that have very little to do with the central story.

Unfortunately, the casting of Kirsten Dunst was one of those missteps. I've loved Dunst in other movies, but in "Elizabethtown" she tries too hard to be the unpredictable party girl looking for love. She is often shrill and her insistence on directing everything is aggravating and annoying. It's hard to understand why Drew doesn't tell Claire to just shut up and leave him alone.

"Elizabethtown" often feels like several movies in one and can be very frustrating for viewers trying to follow the story. Crowe often sidesteps into the past, or even into a little fantasy to enrich the fabric he is trying to create, but that can leave some viewers scratching their heads, instead.

There are many individual moments that are magical, a rocking score and, as I said before, the road trip near the end of the movie is pure joy. But, be warned, "Elizabethtown" is not just the romantic comedy you see in the trailers, it is a film that demands careful attention be paid.