Elizabethtown

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +3

Content: -1 1/2

Its a bad day for Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) in this Cameron Crowe film billed as a romantic comedy but more of a drama. After the running shoe he designed is recalled, costing an Oregon mega-shoe company millions, he is fired by the owner (Alec Baldwin). As he contemplates suicide yes, theres a dark side Drew is told that his father died. His mother (Susan Sarandon) and sister (Judy Greer) send him to Kentucky to handle the funeral. The three have had little to do with the man for 15 years. On this life-changing journey, Drew gains a new understanding of family, success, love and life. On the airplane, he meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant whos over the top with her optimism and enthusiasm. The two get to know each other later on an all-night phone conversation that begins a refreshingly slow-moving romance. Once in Elizabethtown, Ky., Drew is reacquainted with the folks he grew up with and gets to know his father now that hes dead. The story ends on a classic road trip back West.

Youll walk out having come to know some likeable folks from small-town Kentucky, and you may even long for the closeness of family. Romantics will love this story and will be treated to another unforgettable first romantic encounter by Crowe, a la Jerry Maguire. When youre done laughing in places, youll be thinking deeply about life and death. Elizabethtown hits on the important things other than God and faith: family, relationships, success and preparing for death. Its a film with a message live life fully and raises important questions about the essence of life, but the films answers have the empty ring of relative truth. How can a story about a mans death and funeral in small-town Kentucky not have a church scene or a discussion about faith? A film thats supposed to be a slice of real-life America omitted a significant reality here. In the end, it is an enjoyable film worth seeing, but it does have some strong obscenities and profanity.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Shull
Distributor: Paramount

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Few (3) times mild (play on words with son of a Mitch); moderate (nipple 2); strong (-ss 1)

Obscene Language: Many (13) times with several occurrences in a soundtrack song moderate (b-ner 5, scr-w 1); strong (f-word 4, s-word 3)

Profanity: Few (4) times moderate (MG 2, G 2)

Violence: None

Sex: Few times mild (intimate kiss between man and woman on a few occasions; clothed man and woman fall to floor behind table implying they make out; woman tries to wake up man in bed in the morning, is unable to, and then leaves mans bedroom so that all who see her leave think she had sex with the man, and they applaud her)

Nudity: Once mild (woman takes bubble bath without revealing anything, woman shows cleavage at funeral)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Few times mild (woman tells man, Most of the sex Ive had in my life was not as passionate as that kiss; woman tells man, I will miss your lips and everything attached to them"); while speaking at her ex-husband's funeral, woman talks about a man's sexual attraction to her, repeatedly using the word "b-ner"

Drugs: Several times mild (alcohol use by young men and women at a rehearsal dinner, wine and beer in coolers at wedding party); moderate (woman gets drunk and speaks more freely with a man than before)

Other: Appropriate use of Gods name as prayer ends with, Christ our Lord. Amen; man stands at his toilet and uses the bathroom while talking on the phone with a female love interest; woman takes a bubble bath while on the phone with a male love interest; woman says, I think there is definitely a higher spirit; discussion about life and death in light of a funeral; woman tells man, You and I have a special Tao; funny scene involves a video that trains young children to be quiet by a construction worker promising his young audience that he will blow up a building with dynamite if they will be quiet and obey their parents; woman gives pep talk on overcoming failure, Have the courage to fail big and stick around. And let them wonder why youre smiling. Thats success to me; films narrator and lead character says, Success was the only God the entire world served

Running Time: 125 minutes
Intended Audience: Teens and Adults

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