Even more movie goodness

In return for getting to see a preview showing of Serenity, I have turned over 37% of my soul to Grace Hill Media. The Narnia movie this Christmas will most certainly take the rest.

The deal is this: they give us tickets to go see a movie, and I post my honest (honest!) opinion about here, for both you and my Mom to read.

Last week, we got an invitation to go see Elizabethtown. Despite the Kirsten Dunst aspect, this movie was a "meh" for me and not on my radar. "It's a renter," I declared, but I dutifully forwarded it on to my wife (which I have been forced to do ever since we missed getting to go see Constantine; who knew?).

Her response to this movie was shockingly quick and affirmative, "Sign me up, I'll find someone else to go." Totally secure in my place as the head of the household and of this marriage, I promply waited 3 days and then responded to the invitation.

She got the tickets anyway.

To my surprise, she did not take that cute guy from the paint store; she took one of her myriad sisters instead. Here's what she had to say (warning, spoilers may exist therein):

A few nights ago, my sister and I went out on a date to see an advance screening of Cameron Crowe's new movie "Elizabethtown". I have enjoyed all of Crowe's films in the past, so I was looking forward to seeing this one. As a very busy wife and mom, my main pre-requisite for a good movie these days is a fun movie with a happy ending. I don't have time for depressing movies that teach a moral or advance a political agenda. Give me sappy romance that ends with the stars riding off into the sunset or a great action flick that ends with the bad guys dead and the stars riding off into the sunset. Life is depressing enough: movies are pure escapism. With this in mind, I have to say that I loved "Elizabethtown".

The characters were wonderful. Orlando Bloom underplayed the main character of Drew perfectly. There was never a minute that I didn't believe that he was a man who had just experienced a major career setback (to say the least) when he gets the news of his father's death. Alec Baldwin was a hilarious head of the company that fired Drew. Kirsten Dunst is always beautiful, and she played Claire the flight attendant with style. I could have done without her hokey on-again-off-again southern accent, but that is a minor complaint. The setting of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where Drew went to pick up his father's body made me long for life in a small town. There were many memorable minor characters. Paula Deen played Drew's aunt, pretty much as herself, which was great fun to watch. Drew's cousin Jessie was played by Paul Schneider, and I think that we will see more from him. Drew's mother was played by Susan Sarandon, and I liked her more than I usually did. She interacted with Judy Greer, playing Drew's sister very well.

There were many scenes in the movie that I loved. One of my favorites is the part where Drew and Claire had their first marathon phone session. I think that every couple remembers the first time that they were on the phone for hours and couldn't bear to get off. They talked all night about any and everything, then decided to meet half-way to watch the sunrise. I also loved the laugh-out-loud part at the funeral where Drew's cousin Jessie, newly reunited with his hick-rock band, plays "Free Bird" with a very interesting result (you just have to see it). "Elizabethtown" was surprisingly clean, except for two f-bombs thrown in purely for the PG-13 rating, which was very annoying. I really wish that filmmakers would not be afraid of leaving movies fit for adolescents. Also, the music was great. There were several Ryan Adams songs, and as he is my new favorite singer, I was thrilled. This movie passed my happy ending criteria, but more than that, I thought it was a really good movie. It is a good date movie, so don't be afraid to take your beloved. I promise: it's worth the price of admission.

-[The Lovely] 4 Boy Mom

By the way, "Hick-rock" is a term that I brought to the marriage. Just so you know.