Elizabethtown

A reckless approach to depression and (attempted) suicide mars this cloying homecoming tale from the beginning. Bloom (if ever there was a actor who doesn’t deserve his status...) is a successful, twenty-something, workaholic trainer designer who loses his job in spectacular fashion. This personal calamity – hence the near-suicide – coincides with the death of Bloom’s distant father, so prompting an unwelcome journey to Kentucky and a reunion with his distant father’s colourful Southern clan. A chance meeting en route with a pretty air hostess (Dunst) marks the beginning of Bloom’s re-entry to normal life and his realisation that there’s more to life than work (how sage). Male wish-fulfilment drives the entire project, not least its concerns with grief (why couldn’t I love my father when he was alive!) and love (why can’t all pretty air-hostesses realise how warm and sensitive I am – and sleep with me!). A long and rambling film, the sentiment just keeps on flowing...