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Elizabethtown (2005)

4 Votes: 4

Director

Starring

Last On

02:45-04:45 Tue 28th Aug 2012 120m
Channel 4

Synopsis

There's a fine line between heart-warming and syrupy, but in the likes of Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, writer/director Cameron Crowe maintained the balance beautifully. Sadly such equilibrium is largely absent from this mawkish romantic comedy - a messy yarn in which Orlando Bloom's failed and suicidal shoe designer is taught to live again by the kooky air stewardess (Kirsten Dunst) he meets while flying to Kentucky to collect his dead father's body. An overlong lesson in love, loss and fear-management, the film preaches a message of emotional honesty yet its execution is often too contrived to swallow. Despite charming lead performances, the duo's actual relationship seems manufactured, while a clutter of amusingly quirky supporting characters do little to focus the increasingly meandering plot. Where the feature shines is in its humorous depiction of small-town life, offering genuine affection and poignancy to counteract the dollops of manipulative schmaltz.