Drew Baylor a shoe designer has just cost his company one billion dollars. He therefore decides that the shame would be too much that he will commit suicide, something worse happens though when he finds out his father has just died. He must be the responsible one and bring him back from Elizabethtown.
I have always been such a huge Orlando Bloom fan and it has taken me a long time to fully watch this film, I have tried a few times and never really got into it. I am now therefore pleased to say that I give it another chance and this time it consumed me. The story is tough at times but who’s life doesn’t have a lot of ups and downs?
Drew thought he had managed to create a new revelational trainer for his company but instead it cost them rounded up to one billion dollars. Phil Devoss the owner of the company therefore decides that Drew will take the fall in every way possible and must do the interviews about the shoe and the failure. We then see that Drew cannot cope with how this will go down with well the world and see that he sets up a rather sadistic way to kill himself. That is when he finds out about his beloved father after a call from his sister. We then see him straight on a flight to get out to Elizabethtown to bring him home. On the extremely empty flight he cannot get away from air hostess Claire Colburn.
Even the space of just a few days they start a relationship by talking constantly on the phone. She mainly helps him with the loss of his father, it takes him quite a long time to tell her about his failures with work. Which he never even thinks that she won’t care about at all. The relationship built up in this film gives you hope. Hope that if you are at rock bottom and cannot talk to anyone that this one person will just happen to show up at the right time, I think that is very reassuring and something great about the film.
Exploring the grief someone feels after the death of a parent seems to be handled in such a good way in this film. You cannot help but want to see Drew have everything work out or at the very least one thing work out. I guess it shows that no matter how dark and bad things are at one moment, something can help change that. I thought the relationship with his mother and sister could have been done in more depth as they really did seem like a close family. Even if they weren’t with their fathers family in Elizabethtown as they blamed Hollie for taking Mitch away from them.
I thought the funeral and memorial was done in such an interesting and at times crazy way. Getting some laughs in at a time when it was least expected. So if you were like myself and tried to watch this film and didn’t make it all the way through I really do recommend that you watch it. Cameron Crowe really does create such a great journey from start to finish. We care a lot about Drew and want to see that he is going to be ok. I loved the road trip and different things along the way, thought it was pretty amazing that Claire would set something as in depth as that up for a man she hadn’t known very long. But I guess if you have a spark and connection with someone you really will do anything for them!
