The ELIZEBETHTOWN reviewed here is the version screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Prior to the screening, the Paramount Pictures publicist warned the audience that what is being shown is a work-in-progress and that director Cameron Crowe is still currently editing and polishing the film with the result that the actual version eventually released may be significantly different.

We can only hope! The film the TIFF audience had to sit through was a brutal overlong self-indulgent two hours and twenty minutes long.  And more than an hour too long at that! If material were to be edited out, one can hope that more relevant scenes will be put in or segments re-arranged to result in a tighter storyline.  Crowe’s film tracks the redemption of a shoe designer named Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) before the world discovers its fault, causing the company stock and the company reputation to take a nose dive.  Alec Baldwin has a role as his cheerfully upset (yes, cheerfully upset) boss.  After a failed suicide attempt, he receives a phone call of his father’s death to which he travels back to ELIZABETHTOWN to aid in the burial arrangements.  En route, he meets and falls for Claire (Kirsten Dunst.  Half crazed mother (Susan Sarandon) has a say in all this as well. 

The trouble with the story is that Dunst comes across as a totally inept and irritating stalker.  Why anyone would fall for her (except perhaps for her good looks) is beyond comprehension.  The free spirit thing about her just does not work.  Worse of all, they encounter one ridiculous incident after another causing the film to drag on and on.

The only saving grace is the film’s amazing soundtrack and a bit of Crowe’s wry humor.  The video segment taming the unruly kids is priceless.  The slow motion scenes test the viewers’ patience even further.  When Crowe decides to unleash the final torture of showing mother’s full tap dance routine at the eulogy, one can only cringe in the seat that enough is enough!  Major editing is required to save this film!

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Review by: Gilbert Seah