Some things that were great about 'Elizabethtown'
Susan Sarandon's tap dance was everything that was right about sad/happy grief.
Cameron Crowe always dresses his lead females to the nines.
I could not get over how much Judy Greer looked exactly like she could be Susan Sarandon's daughter.
How could he possibly deliver those lines in a way that didn't instantly demonize him? "You can't outact me, boy." His office is hysterical.
When Kirsten Dunst starts directing people out of the memorial service I could have died it was so funny.
Now if only Orlando Bloom could stop acting so hard! Man was he ever workin' it! He had some really great moments (ie/ In the car near the end when he's talking to his dad) but some others were... troublesome. "Wait... we're not?"
I don't really understand the overwhelmingly negative critical response to this film. Maybe Almost Famous raised expectations. Maybe people expected too much. I did, but I was still pleasantly surprised. I thought Kirsten Dunst's Claire would grate on my nerves, but I knew people like her so it rang true. She may have been a little irritating, but she was real.
Overall the film's up-and-down mix of happy/sad, love story/father-and-son drama, on-again-off-again was a little frustrating because I just wanted one emotion to push through the din so I wouldn't feel conflicted and could either ride a high or "sink into the deep melancholy of everything that has happened." But how do you do that when the story is filled with so many complex emotions and situations?
Meh. I liked it. A lot, I think.
posted by Phinneas Q Jacksmith @ 10:59 a.m.
3 comments
3 Comments:
Whew! Dialogue on Elizabethtown!
I think I agree with you completely on this one, right down to a moment of shared cringing over the very badly delivered "Wait...we're not?" which I at least thought was redeemed somewhat by the blunt "Nope." that followed!
I had the same mixed feelings about the great big, weird feast of clashing emotions and radically differing tones parading around onscreen, but I too eventually found that sort of admirable after a while. After all, it is, in the words of the almighty Chuck, about "Life and death! Beside each other!"
I'm glad you thought Claire rang true, by the way; I was thinking I was the only one, which may have meant I was missing something that all the negative press were in on, but I wasn't wise to. Did you notice that the negative reviews that zero in on her character seem to have missed completely the gist of their relationship? I was kind of puzzled to find that review after review called her pushy and wrote that she "forced" him into loving her, when in the movie I saw, she seemed more like the hesitant one after a certain moment with an urn in a hotel lobby. Did they miss the fact that either she has a boyfriend or is making one up to avoid getting involved with him? 'Cause, that's a pretty massive detail that screams "DANGER! Fearful neurotic, right here!" Given that, I found her wacky roadmap sort of sweet!
[Maybe mentioning those things would have damaged the review they pre-packaged before they actually saw the damn thing.]
Anywho, I will conclude by saying, "VIVA ALEC BALDWIN! VIVA!"
Man you guys have got me wanting to see this big time now. Hopefully it will make its way to Rainbow before the suspense consumes my wallet.
this is exactly how I felt about this movie.
Everyone I know went "ehhh, romantic comedy starring Orlando Bloom" but I keep trying to explain that it really wasn't about that at all.
There were, of course, flawed moments, but for the most part, I think it was excellently acted and written.
Plus, it's a good reminder that we're all crazy, when we let ourselves be. I miss crazy.
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