Cameron Crowe returns to cinemas with his latest heartfelt film after a four year hiatus, and I feel it's his best since Almost Famous.

The story focuses on Drew Baylor (Bloom). He finds himself in the middle of a fiasco at the shoe company he works for. The shoe he designed was a major flop and is being recalled. It means a loss to the company of, "Well, it can be rounded off to a billion dollars."

His boss, and the CEO of the company (Baldwin) wants Drew to take the blame, which he agrees to do. He then returns to his home and prepares to commit suicide. Just as he is about to go through with it, he gets a call from his sister (Greer) that his father has died while visiting family in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. So, Drew postpones his plans for suicide and is on a red eye flight to Kentucky to claim his father's body.

During the flight, he meets Claire (Dunst), the flight attendant. Since Drew is one of two or three passengers on the plane, this gives Claire plenty of time to give Drew plenty of personal attention. As he de-boards the plane, Claire slips him her number. Of course, he calls her, and she later joins him in Elizabethtown.

Meanwhile, Drew finds himself in the middle of whirlwind of family that he hardly knew. He tries to plan a memorial service for his family, which culminates at the end as being quite the affair.

Crowe presents us with another of his heartfelt stories that balances comedy and drama and yet retains a sense of honesty to it. The entire film focuses on Drew coming to terms with the relationship he had with his father along with the blossoming relationship with Claire. He crafts a story that is in essence a coming of age story, with Drew realizing that there is more to measure your life by then success.

Orlando Bloom turns in a good performance in only his second leading role. He has the hard task of carrying the bulk of the film almost by himself (including an extended montage road trip at the end). Bloom is able to carry off the role of a young man dealing with the sudden death of his father and the chaos that comes along with it.  

Kirsten Dunst gives a good performance as Claire, playing her with a sense of hurt and loneliness lingering just under the surface, suggesting that she needs Drew as badly as he needs her. To help mask this, she leads Drew on an odessey of self-discovery with a cheery smile on her face that barely manages to cover her real feelings. Dunst conveys this wonderfully throughout the film in a performance that some found to be annoying. I found it to be endearing and comforting.

Overall, Elizabethtown is a fun, entertaining and heartfelt film that works with a good story and great performances from the cast.