Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

“Elizabethtown” (2005)

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Satisfaction:Pleased Tags: Romantic, Comedy, Cameron Crowe

Whenever I visit my dad’s house, I peruse his DVD library; he adds a movie or two fairly often, so I see what’s new to the collection that I can borrow. Hmm, here’s Elizabethtown. Heard some awful things during the festivals, but some okay stuff when it was released theatrically. Before I could finish asking my dad if I could borrow the film, he told me that not only could I borrow it, but that it might be best if I kept it, as well.

He went on to explain that he couldn’t stand the characters, specifically the one played by Kirsten Dunst. My stepmother couldn’t finish the film, but my dad said he was able to ignore Kirsten Dunst long enough to recognize that beyond her was an okay movie. But he knew he couldn’t do it twice, so he shoved the DVD into my hands.

My dad was right; there is an okay movie in Elizabethtown, and I’d go even further and say there’s a pretty good movie in there. It’s just hidden behind some other stuff.

As a refresher: Drew (Orlando Bloom), after what must be a career-ending fiasco, travels to a little place known as Elizabethtown to prepare for his father’s funeral. Along the way, he meets a talkative flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dunst).

Thematically, most films tend to be about a lot of different things, and Elizabethtown definitely seeks to be about a lot of stuff: what it means to be “fine,” discovering the “real” America, loving and being loved by strangers…. Thing is, I’m not really sure if they mesh together as well as, say, the themes in a movie like Almost Famous. Instead, it almost takes these themes one at a time, one after another. While I wouldn’t say that the film is completely episodic, I do think it lacks a certain cohesiveness. As a result, I find it difficult sometimes to put my finger on this film. What is Elizabethtown, really? Is it about Drew? Is it about Drew and Claire? Is it about Drew and his deceased father?

Something that doesn’t help is that there’s a palpable sense of something…missing. Almost every story arc, from that of the main character to the supporting ones, feels like it was trimmed. At Drew’s father’s memorial, there are key moments and shots that almost imply this omission. Several times throughout the film, we see snippets of Drew’s mother (Susan Sarandon) attempting “new things” after the death of her husband, but it’s more implied and spoken than actually seen. So when she gets up at her husband’s memorial and dances for him as a way to “branch out,” we don’t feel her growth because we really didn’t see much of her before she grew. Later on in the same scene, after an oversized model bird catches on fire and sprinklers soak everything in site, there’s a shot of Drew’s sister (Judy Greer), basking in the downpour. The problem I have with the moment is that it’s obviously supposed to be significant for the character, but we know so little about her that we can’t see why it’s significant.

The central relationship between Drew and Claire conflicts me. Much like my father, I wasn’t a big fan of the Claire character; she was a bit over-done, and she’s the type of self-aware person I would find annoying in real life. And there were times when I cringed at Drew—namely his “dancing moments.” A couple of times in the film, Drew dances—on the phone with Claire and during his roadtrip. Drew dancing didn’t feel like Drew dancing; it felt like Drew dancing because he thinks he should be dancing—and I don’t like that. It just seems so off. Despite all that, I genuinely wanted the guy to be happy. I wanted him to hook up with the girl. Yet…I didn’t like who he was when he was with her. Is that irony? I’m not sure if I should count it against the film that it succeeded in getting me to root for a couple that I don’t particularly like as a couple.

Now, I’ve seen Elizabethtown twice, and the last time that I watched it, I realized something: Claire has a boyfriend. She keeps mentioning “Ben”—her boyfriend. I don’t remember this the first time I saw the movie, and it’s supposed to be a significant detail. It’s supposed to be one of the main obstacles that prevents Claire and Drew from actually getting together, yet I don’t even remember it existing. What does that tell me? Am I not as observant as I thought? Or maybe it means that it was an underdeveloped storyline. The boyfriend never feels real, partially because we never see him. Part of me thinks he doesn’t even exist, that he’s merely a lie made up by Claire (which wouldn’t surprise me, but would annoy me even further). “Ben” feels like an obstacle manufactured to prolong the two characters’ eventual union. ^[1]

The idea that we can be loved by strangers is explored a few ways in this movie, but they all stem from the death of Drew’s father. When Drew arrives in Elizabethtown, he discovers an entire side of his family that absolutely adores him and knows everything about him; yet he knows nothing about them. These people know him without knowing him. Then there’s the notion of instant love that comes with the knowledge that Drew has lost his father. It’s what triggered Claire’s love for Drew, and even the brotherly love of Chuck, a bachelor holding his wedding in the same hotel that Drew is staying in. Chuck, a non-relative, knows nothing about Drew except that Drew’s father just passed away. But that one thing is enough, because before long, Chuck’s embracing Drew, telling him to stay strong.

The final stretch of the film has Drew going on a roadtrip home, planned by Claire. Stops are designated and a soundtrack is provided by her for every single moment of the journey. Pie, historical exhibits, and interesting strangers are all on the agenda. It’s a deceptively ambitious sequence that doesn’t always succeed, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

First, the sequence pushes the notion of surviving struggles and trials in order to truly live. At a time when he’d rather just take a plane home, Drew does the hard thing and takes the roadtrip. When it seems that he and Claire just weren’t meant to be, he still immerses himself in the trip that she prepared for him. There’s even mention of the salmon that swim upstream in order to eventually experience Life. So in this time of trouble, when his career is dead and so is his father, what does Drew come face to face with? Love. Love from almost every thing he comes in contact with. Once Drew escapes the confines of his corporate life, the only thing he ever comes across is love, from the people of Elizabethtown to a Martin Luther King, Jr. exhibit, to that storyteller at the pie shop. So maybe Elizabethtown is telling us that to live is to love (and be loved).

I think the final stretch also reiterates the more specific theme of loving and being loved by strangers. Earlier, in Elizabethtown, Drew has a late night conversation:

                    JESSIE
Of course, you and your dad were close.

                    DREW
Very close. And I knew him very, very well. He was 
my dad. We were actually going to drive here 
together this year. Then it became next year and no. 
I knew him very well. Very, very well. Very well.

                    JESSIE
Yeah, I don't know my dad very well, either.

Later, during the roadtrip with the urn that is filled with his father’s ashes:

                    DREW
We should have taken this trip years ago.

Putting the two together, we can see that Drew is finally doing something that everyone else has been doing for the entire film: loving someone he doesn’t know. Before this, Drew felt it was an impossibility, which is why he couldn’t ever cry over his father’s death, as devastating as it was. When he finally accepts the idea that he could still love his father, the tears begin to flood. It’s something that wasn’t immediately apparent, but it makes sense to me.

But that final roadtrip could have been even greater if it wasn’t masterminded by someone that was unappealing. I like the idea of a planned roadtrip with a nonstop soundtrack for every scene, mood, and event. But seeing Claire’s face all over the map reminds me that she’s the one who created it, prompting me to think: who is she? How pretentious is Claire, a very young flight attendant, to believe that she can possess the wisdom to open someone’s eyes to Life? Just because she travels, I’m supposed to believe that Claire is an authority on “truly living”? Imagine if this roadtrip was created by someone more centered, insightful, and intelligent. That final sequence could have been magical.

I suppose could say something similar about all of Elizabethtown; if this movie was about more appealing characters, it could have been great.