Anyone going to see or have seen Elizabethtown?

[WestieMomma]

I was so excited about this movie coming out because I love Cameron Crowe movies (minus Vanilla Sky of course!)...but Elizabethtown has gottten horrible reviews so now I'm not so sure I want to waste my money. The previews look pretty good. Anyone see it? What did you think?

[miaclear]

I haven't seen it. But I'm so sick of hearing Kirsten Dunst in those commercials. If I had a puking smile I'd use it here.

From what I know of the film it sounds an awful lot like Garden State which I loved. I'm guessing this one won't be so great. I'll wait for the DVD.

[Rose]

I want to see it because I love Cameron Crowe but KD really annoys me. I am going to see a matinee.

[trefoil]

I saw it last night and absolutely loved it. :)

[WestieMomma]

trefoil Was it slow? that is what I heard. Now I kind of want to go see it.

[trefoil]

Hmm. It didn't strike me as slow, but I can see why it got that reputation. I think the scene lengths depend more on what those times mean to the characters, not to the audience, if that makes any sense. So, if you are on the side of the character and understand why he/she cares about an issue, the scene won't seem overly long.

If you are worried about wasting the money by seeing it in the theatre, you could always wait until it comes to DVD. :) I don't want to urge you to see it because I've seen that it's tomato rating is 31% (eek!) at www.rottentomatoes.com and so it was apparently detested by critics. Or you could bridge the gap, and go to a matinee, like Rose is planning to do. Oh, for the record, I do not recommend this movie if Kirsten Dunst annoys you. She's in enough of the movie that it would be hard to enjoy if you don't like her.

[Rose]

I saw it yesterday and I enjoyed it. Kirsten Dunst grew on me. She was quite annoying on her job as a flight attendant but after that she didn't bother me. I thought she had good chemistry with Orlando Bloom. I thought it had a slow start but I didn't think the majority was too slow. I would watch it again, (if not only for Orlando Bloom) but it's not one I would buy and watch over and over. Susan Sarandon was very funny and I liked the scenes between her, the daughter and Orlando.

[jeepgirl]

I saw it, but personally did not like it. :p

[Ali]

I saw it and I liked it, but I like some of his other movies. I am kind of quirky and I like quirky movies. I went into it expecting to see a quirky movie and I was not disappointed.

I feel that it should be said, however, that this is not really a romantic comedy (which I think it is being billed as...). To me it is really a movie about the grief process and the power of the human spirit to overcome tragedy and loss.

Having been through a tremendous grief process myself not long ago, I really appreciated this aspect of the movie, and it is done with love and humor.

The movie seems to have two main parts. The first part is the funeral arrangement/memorial phase which has it's own sort of surreal quality to it (in real life) and then the post-funeral grieving process stage where life is supposed to go on....

And yes, there is a girl involved (Kirsten Dunst), but she is not really the main point. She is more or less a construct to keep the movie going in a plausible manner, and I suspect that some of her character was cut, because there is a time or two in the film when I expect MORE development of her character and it just doesn't occur.

I felt that Susan Sarandon's character could have been cut more, even though it was a very small part. I wonder how much of her part was cut already. I really hated her "eulogy" and could have done without it, especially the "Boner Bob" part.

FYI - the movie is very semi-autobiographical. Cameron Crowe's father was from a small town in Kentucky and died of a sudden heart attack while there visiting relatives and Cameron was the one sent from California to Kentucky to represent his family and make the funeral arrangements.

[sarahh]

The previews make it look like Garden State II.

[Ali]

I think that you could consider the two films to be of the same genre. I don't think that they were exactly alike though. In Garden State the main character has had his emotions shut off nearly his entire life and is suddenly dealing with feeling everything full force.

[vwinkel]

Bumping up this old thread - I rented it last night. The movie was just ok IMO. Orlando wasn't right for that role and I thought he looked sort of fake. However, I LOVE that travel journal thing she made for him in the film. Does anything like this exist in the "real world?" I thought it might be fun to do a road trip like that with land marks along the way. (obviously I could make it myself, but that would take months).

[vmw774180]

I rented this over the weekend. I thought it was good, but it seemed so slow. I felt like I was watching it forever!!!

[vmw774180]

Oh, I forgot, Orlando is just dreamy!!

[lawyerlee]

I rented this over the weekend. I thought it was good, but it seemed so slow. I felt like I was watching it forever!!!
I agree. I really liked it, but it was too long or too slowly paced or something.