I think only die hard Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) fans will enjoy this picture. Otherwise, it will seem hollow to most, which it is.

"Elizabethtown" is about a failed sneaker designer named Drew, played by Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven), who is planning his own death when his sister calls to say their father died of a heart attack while visiting relatives in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Drew then flies to Elizabethtown to help finish memorial and burial arrangements for his mother and meets the "other" family for the first time since adulthood. Along the way, he meets and falls for an unusual flight attendant, played by Kirsten Dunst (Drop Dead Gorgeous) who reminds him of what life is supposed to really be about.

The premis of the story is touching, and the writer/director Cameron Crowe has a knack for writing interesting women in interesting relationships; however, Crowe's ????? character was a little tough to believe for me. She was fun, but not believeable.

My biggest problem with the movie is, there is numerous subtext through out the picture that is never polished off by the end.

For example, Drew is fired from his designing job after being the responsible designer of a sneaker that fell under a massive recall; a recall that will cost the company he worked for almost $1 billion. Being such a large amount of money, I was DYING to know what was wrong with the design of the sneaker. People seemed to like the sneaker, but the reason for the recall was never given. Were they giving people shin splints? We never know.

Crowe also spends a lot of time setting up the fact that Drew is incapable of crying. Family members talk about it. He keeps telling people he's incapable, so I was completely expecting one scene where something sets Drew off and he cries like a baby. It never happened. There a moment in the third act road trip home where Drew start laughing hysterically and ends up in tears from laughter, but I didn't get they were tears of loss for his father.

It is also set up that the people of Elizabethtown know of Drew as a celebrity, the creator of these kick-ass shoes, but as he explains, when the cover story about his professional debacle hits the magazine stands the following Sunday, people will know the truth about him. Well… We never get to see the magazine hit the stands. The movie wraps before that happens. I al least wanted to see Drew's response to the story.

I read "Elizabethtown" had a p**s-poor debut at the Toronto Film Festival, after which Crowe quickly re-edited the portions of the movie which people didn't like. I'm going to guess all the things I wanted to see finished off occurred in those minutes of screen time sacfriced after the TFF showing. I simply cannot believe the cinema released version of this movie is what Crowe intended originally.

The picture is still pretty good, but somewhat hollow with the missing spit and polish. The finished product is not Crowe's best, but it's far better than his worst. I'd wait until DVD to see this one. The DVD disc may contain the deleted scenes I was waiting for.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?