160 – Elizabethtown (with Phil Iscove)

Joining us this week is Podcast Like It’s 1999′s Phil Iscove to finally unpack a foundational This Had Oscar Buzz text. After winning an Oscar for Almost Famous and delivering a financially succesful (if extremely divisive) hit in Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe decided to return to his roots with Elizabethtown. Starring Orlando Bloom as a young shoe designer struggling to cope with professional ruin and the sudden death of his father, he meets a buoyant flight attendant played by Kirsten Dunst who brings him back to to himself. Crowded with song cues, bizarre character beats, and notes of whimsy that struggle to stick the landing, the film received a disastrous critical response at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, leading Crowe back into the editing room before release and Oscar to immediately count this one out. Still a film that has a sizable fanbase of defenders of its earnest vibes, Elizabethtown is remembered today as the beginning of the end for Crowe and birthing the phrase Manic Pixie Dream Girl (as penned by Nathan Rabin). This episode, we dive into all that works and doesn’t for us in Crowe’s sentimental screwball movie, its infamous casting struggles with the biggest young acting names of the time, and the ups and recent downs of Crowe’s career. Topics also include Roger Ebert’s later reassessment of the film’s theatrical cut, the Crowe/Tarantino divide of pastiche, and tap dancing at funerals. Follow Us on Twitter! @Had_Oscar_Buzz Joe: @joereid Chris: @chrisvfeil Phil: @pmiscove