Line #28 Film/Elizabethtown


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7	-> ''"There's a difference between a failure and a fiasco. A failure is merely the absence of success. Any fool can achieve failure. But a fiasco, a fiasco is a disaster of epic proportions. A fiasco is a folk tale told to others to make other people feel more alive because it didn't happen to them."''
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9	''Elizabethtown'' is a 2005 American romantic tragicomedy written and directed by Creator/CameronCrowe, starring Creator/OrlandoBloom and Creator/KirstenDunst.
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11	Drew Baylor (Bloom) is on top of the world. He just designed a shoe for a Nike {{Expy}}. It's expected to be a huge hit. His family is proud of him. He has a beautiful girlfriend (Creator/JessicaBiel). Obviously, it doesn't last. In fact, the audience doesn't even get to see any of his success, because the film opens with Drew's firing. His shoe bombed. It's being recalled, and the company is losing millions of dollars. [[RunningGag So many millions that you could round it off to a]] ''[[RunningGag Billion]]''. His girlfriend dumps him. His career is flushed down the toilet. What's left? [[DrivenToSuicide Suicide, of course!]]
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13	But before he can off himself (though not before he's given away all his possessions on the street corner), he gets a call from his sister (Creator/JudyGreer), informing him that their father has died while visiting his relatives in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Both Drew's mom (Creator/SusanSarandon) and his sister are far too emotional to deal with the situation. They call on him to arrange the funeral and cremation. So Drew's plans for suicide are put on hold as he flies off to Kentucky to meet with his family.
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15	On the plane, Drew meets a quirky flight attendant named Claire (Dunst). Though he doesn't tell her his problems, she senses something is amiss and strikes up a conversation with him. They talk briefly on the plane, and she leaves him with her phone number. Drew thinks nothing of it until he actually gets to Elizabethtown, and has to deal with his family and his father's remains. In emotional turmoil, he reaches out to Claire and the two strike up a connection.
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17	The movie is supposedly based on director Cameron Crowe's own life. It also, rather oddly, features Creator/FoodNetwork TV chef Paula Deen as Drew's aunt.
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20	!!The film provides examples of:
21	* ActorAllusion: The picture on the mantelpiece is from ''{{Film/Stepmom}}'', another Susan Sarandon film.
22	* AlliterativeName: '''C'''laire '''C'''olburn.
23	* BlackComedy: The jokes and references to suicide drift into this territory.
24	--> "...and get back on that bike!"
25	** SuicideAsComedy: In fact, the whole scene in which he plans his suicide is [[HilarityEnsues riotously]] [[PlayedForLaughs funny]] in a "Is this guy serious?" kind of way. Really, an ''exercise bike with a steak knife [[DuctTapeForEverything duct taped]] to it?''
26	* BrickJoke: "DID I MISS 60-B!?!?!" [[spoiler: Yes he did, and he finds it on the way OUT of Elizabethtown]].
27	* BoyMeetsGirl
28	* CatchPhrase: "Chuck and Cindy. Loving life, loving you!"
29	* DeathTrap: Notably, Drew builds one of these for himself, out of an exercise bike and a large steak knife. And [[DuctTapeForEverything duct tape.]]
30	* DrivenToSuicide: [[PlayedForLaughs Drew at the start of the film.]]
31	* DysfunctionalFamily: Most of the dysfunction comes from the extended family towards the "California Baylors" (though they're really from Oregon).
32	** Also, there's a side plot about father-son relationships in the family. It's a recurring theme.
33	* EccentricTownsfolk: And most of them are related to Drew!
34	* EpicFail: Oh yes, in fact the page quote does a decent job on describing the difference between this trope and a regular failure.
35	** As it happened, this movie bombed at the box office, and was the [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/my-year-of-flops-case-file-1-elizabethtown-the-bat,15577/ very first film examined]] in Nathan Rabin's ongoing series of columns for ''Website/TheOnion'' A.V. Club, "My Year of Flops". It also helped Rabin define his rating system for the films: Secret Success, Failure, and Fiasco, with ''Elizabethtown'' being the first to fall in the latter category.
36	** It should be noted that upon returning to the film for a second viewing, Nathan Rabin actually fell in love with it, and recorded this as the final article in "My Year of Flops" when he published it as a book.
37	** InUniverse, the damn shoes. All billion-dollar waste of them. [[NoodleIncident Even if the film absolutely refuses to tell us]] ''why'' they failed so epically.
38	* ExtremeDoormat: Claire describes herself as one with regards to her boyfriend Ben.
39	* FakeBand: Ruckus, played by real-life Kentucky band My Morning Jacket.
40	* TheFunInFuneral: Or at the memorial, at least. Drew's mother took stand-up comedy lessons and proceeds to share funny anecdotes. Then the Music/LynyrdSkynyrd tribute band strikes up a tune, only to send the whole place up in flames.
41	** At the actual funeral, the mechanism used to lower Mitch's coffin (which contains only his blue suit, since he was already cremated) malfunctions for a bit, eliciting a chuckle from Drew's mom.
42	* GirlfriendInCanada: It's unclear whether Claire's boyfriend Ben can't get away from his work or just doesn't exist.
43	* GoodOlBoy: Most of the Kentucky Baylor clan.
44	* HappyEnding: Yes.
45	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Claire's off-screen boyfriend, [[spoiler:who probably doesn't even exist]].
46	* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: Actually a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, as an unexpected rainstorm hit the day they were going to shoot this scene, and director Cameron Crowe decided to shoot anyway since he thought it looked beautiful.
47	* InterruptedSuicide: Drew's, at the beginning of the film, due to his sister calling him.
48	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: The aforementioned A.V. Club review [[TropeNamer gave the trope its name]] in reference to Claire, describing her as "Dunst's [[CuteAndPsycho psychotically chipper]] waitress in the sky".
49	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: The poster for Ruckus's only live performance indicates their name at the very bottom-right corner. Jesse still brags about (almost) getting to play with "Lynyrd fuckin' Skynyrd... We never played, and we never played since."
50	* {{Narrator}}: Drew. Claire also includes some narration in the mix [=CDs=] she tells Drew to play on his road trip.
51	* NoodleIncident: Whatever the heck caused Drew's shoes to be recalled.
52	%% * QuirkyTown: Elizabethtown itself to an extent.
53	* ProductPlacement: Kentucky-made soft drink Ale-8-One makes a couple of appearances.
54	* RoadTripPlot: The latter part of the movie develops into this, as Drew wanders around in a trip designed by Claire for him to reminisce best times with the ashes of his father, [[BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie release them in a dramatically appropriate time and place]], give himself a few seconds to hate himself over the damn shoes one last time, and meet her in a flea market.
55	* RiddleForTheAges: So ''why'' the '''hell''' were the damn shoes recalled? All that it is ever exposed is that it's such a hard-core EpicFail that it made the news (and not in a good way, with a critic even saying that "it will make a whole generation go back to walking bare-footed"), it cost the company $972 million, it got Drew fired and made him suicidally depressed pretty much overnight. And that is it. Lots of information regarding the ''aftermath'', but the reason is never given.
56	* RunningGag:
57	** The Kentucky Baylors think Drew's family is from California, when they're actually from Oregon. Drew himself makes the same mistake later in the film.
58	---> "And that's the decision from California! ...Shit. [[GotMeDoingIt Oregon! We really are from Oregon!]]"
59	** Drew and his "last looks"
60	** Claire taking snapshots with her imaginary camera.
61	* SceneryPorn: Particularly towards the last half of the movie, while Drew takes his road trip.
62	* TruthInTelevision: Despite some comments by people to the contrary, Claire's pronunciation of "Louisville" is accurate. It is most commonly pronounced "Loo-uh-vuhl".
63	* UnableToCry: Drew, for most of the movie, until he reminisces about his father in the middle of his road trip.
64	----
65	-> '''Drew''': I think I've been asleep most of my life.

Context Film / Elizabethtown