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Going out with a BANG!
This column marks my 5th anniversary as a movie columnist. It all started on October 4th 1998 at Corona's Coming Attractions. For the past three years, I've called TNMC home. This will be my last column here. John Shea, my friend and editor, has treated me with so much respect and love. This is my gift to you buddy, I'm leaving this wonderful joint with the biggest exclusive of my career, my review of Cameron Crowe's Elisabethtown screenplay.
Elisabethtown Script Review
For those who don't remember, I am a huge fan of Cameron Crowe. He's my hero. His body of work has a special place in my heart. I've probably seen Jerry Maguire forty times. That movie has the one of the greatest screenplays ever produced. It's the finest balance between comedy and drama ever written. After a 4 year wait, I had the privilege of reading the script for Almost Famous a year before the movie came out. I loved it but the finished product was EVEN better and it was my favorite film of 2000. For the past three years, I have been hunting for tid-bits and details about his next project. We all know the details. An ensemble comedy. The strange name of Elisabethtown. Followed by the casting of Ashton Kutcher and Kirsten Dunst. Finally, the screenplay arrived at my house. It took me 90 minutes to read it...
Drew Baylor (Ashton Kutcher) works for a huge shoe corporation in Oregon. His invention tanks badly losing the company 972 million dollars. Phil, the billionaire owner, fires him for his mistake. His girlfriend Ellen who works with him dumps him. He goes back to his apartment and he's about to commit suicide when he gets the call. His father Mitch has passed away. His mother Hollie and sister Heather send him to Elisabethtown, Kentucky. His mission is simple: have Mitch's family respect his final wishes. On his trip there, he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant. The clash of cultures with his southern heritage complicates his journey. He finally comes to terms with his late father and his own roots with the help of Claire.
Amazing. It's a southern romantic comedy with very strong dramatic moments. It definitely is one of the most unique scripts I have read in a while. It doesn't have any flaws. There's some fat that could be cut here and there. But nothing dramatic. Every Cameron Crowe film has fantastic sequences. This film has two of them: a lengthy phone conversation between Drew and Claire and Hollie's funeral speech. Those are CLASSIC Crowe moments. But wait, it could get better. In Almost Famous, the 'I am a Golden God/Tiny Dancer' sequence is the highlight of the film. In the screenplay, it wasn't written that clearly. The whole 'Tiny Dancer' scene was only a paragraph long in the script. It didn't strike me at all. Elisabethtown doesn't have any music directions. Cameron's film score has always been an intricate part of the story. His musical touch could change an entire scene. So the final product will definitely be improved from what I've read.
Ashton Kutcher in a Cameron Crowe film. I cringe every time I hear that. How can Kelso or the guy from Dude, Where's My Car? play the lead in a great project like this? My only answer to that question is: Did anyone think Tom Cruise could pull off a role like Jerry Maguire before that film? If Cameron can work that magic again with Ashton, then we may have a brand new Ashton. Or else, Cameron will end up being Punk'd.
I absolutely love Kirsten Dunst. She's been a favorite of mine for a long time. Her role has a fun little idiosyncrasy. She likes to take imaginary snapshots. Claire has an opinion of people based on their first names. It's easy to imagine Kirsten in that part. She will be perfect. Claire is written better then Penny Lane. It's one of Cameron's best female characters ever.
Probably one of the most fascinating roles in this project is Drew's mom Hollie. Jane Fonda came close to coming out of acting retirement to play her but eventually dropped out. It's a real background supporting part for the first two acts. But when she finally arrives in Elisabethtown, she starts stealing the show. It culminates with a show stopping speech in the third act. It could be a great role for Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep (who was originally cast in Almost Famous).
Elisabethtown features three themes that Cameron Crowe uses in his films:
1. Airport and airplanes.
Jerry Maguire has a fabulous scene where Jerry tells a fellow traveller how he met his fiancée. We also see him in various airports and airplanes. Almost Famous has the confessional scene where every character reveals something when they think their plane will crash. Also, Anita Miller was a stewardess. In Elisabethtown, Claire is also a flight attendant and their first meeting takes place in a plane. It's a brilliant little encounter.
2. A single parent.
We all remember Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellwegger) and her son in Jerry Maguire. Elaine Miller, delightfully played by Frances McDormand in Almost Famous, was also a single parent. It's no secret that Cameron's mom Alice Marie Crowe was the origin for that character. Coming from that type of family unit, it's reasonable to see why Cameron incorporates that in his work. This time it's Drew's cousin Jessie Baylor and his mischievous 4 year-old son Samson. He's referred to as 'the loudest kid in the world'.
3. Phone Conversation.
I think everyone remembers 'Show Me The Money'. While the phone discussions between William and Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) were probably some of the best scenes in Almost Famous. In Elisabethtown, there's an 18 page long phone conversation. Twenty minutes or so of screentime for a very witty and adorable chat between Drew and Claire.
If Jerry Maguire is one end of Cameron Crowe's work and Almost Famous is the other, then Elisabethtown would be the middle where they meet perfectly.
The End
It's finally over. Thank you for reading this column for the past three years. Make sure to check out my new column at www.filmjerk.com. So for one final time:
Stay tuned...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 23 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
