Elizabethtown

When your a talented filmmaker inevitably you are bound to make that one film that stands out as your worst film. For Cameron Crowe, that film is Elizabethtown.
So, the question becomes, why do I own it? Well, even at his worst Cameron Crowe still has a knack at creating characters the audience will care about. So, when you have a movie like Elizabethtown which opens with preposterous opening in which Olando Bloom ponders the difference between failure and fiasco until moments away from committing suicide in as ridiculous a fashion as anyone could imagine he finds out that his dad has died and that he needs to go and pick up the body.
That body is in a small town called Elizabethtown which is somewhere near Louisville, Kentucky. The town loves Mitch though and upon arrival Bloom's character Drew quickly realizes the town wants Mitch buried there instead of being brought back to Oregon (which the town refers to as California because if your in Kentucky than everything west of the Mississippi River is California).
On his trip Drew also meets flight attendant Claire who could not appear more obnoxious after first meeting her but who Drew eventually finds himself calling and essentially sharing his entire life story with her. They both approach the idea of a relationship as if they would do anything to avoid it and yet they still manage to come together.
The flaws in this film can be summed up as Crowe including some fluff material that could just as easily be removed without damaging the film. Drew could have been just a workaholic and not a suicidal fiasco. Claire's aversion to being in a relationship seems counter to everything we like about her. It's these elements that combine to make this Crowe's worst film.
But, it should be said that the film is still filled with wonderful things. The town folks in Elizabethtown are not as cartoonish as they might have been in lesser hands and quickly we find them endearing. Drew's mom, played by Susan Sarandon, is also great as the woman who is scared to return to Elizabethtown because she knows she is always the woman who took Mitch away from them. The film also features seemingly half the songs from Crowe's IPOD which is okay because Crowe does have a great taste for music and only occasionally does it feel like Crowe is going to the well with his music to cover up for a low point in the movie. And ultimately we care about seeing Drew and Claire end up together. Which, when you start a film like this, regardless of the potholes you hit along the way, if you reach the end and you are happy to see these characters end up together the film has served it's purpose. Even at his worst Crowe is still talented enough to get us to this point.