Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst,...

Heartwarming is the word to describe director Cameron Crowe's new film "Elizabethtown." But what else would one expect from Crowe than a typical tale of Americana wrapped in an awesome soundtrack?

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is a designer for a huge west coast Nike-like shoe company. As he enters work on the first day back after, apparently, his brainchild of a shoe design called "Spasmotica" has failed, he tells everyone he passes in the halls, "I'm fine."

In reality, nothing is fine. According to his boss Phil (Alec Baldwin), because of his project, the company has lost $972 million. Or "a figure so large that you could actually round it off to $1 billion."

After Drew takes the fall for his project with a reporter from a local business magazine he turns in his ID badge and leaves the building. When he gets home he cleans out his apartment (full of some really cool stuff) and tries to make a suicide machine out of a kitchen knife and exercise machine.

However, this too fails. Then he gets the call from his sister that his father has died in the small town of Elizabethtown, Ky. So onto to the plane Drew goes with specific instructions from his surprisingly unaffected mother not to let "those people" suck him into their pathetic smalltown lives.

On the plane, on which he is just about the only passenger, Drew meets stewardess Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), who is incredibly upbeat and instantly makes him smile. She is the type of person, if anyone met her outside of a movie screen, they would block her phone number and avoid her if they saw her in the supermarket (the most striking example of her semi-schizophrenic tendencies is her strange fascination with making a camera with her hands and snapping an imaginary photo).

Anyway, they strike up a conversation and she gives him detailed directions to Elizabethtown along with her phone number and the number of the auto club in case he gets lost.

So Drew finds Elizabethtown, his father's hometown, and realizes exactly how loved his father was. Everyone in the town, along with the family (who is so large, it would take the rest of the review to describe all of the characters), has an opinion of how their local hero should be buried. But Drew has to push his father's wish for cremation.

So in the hotel that first night in town Drew simply wants someone to talk to. Meanwhile, a giant frat party is being held in the hotel under the guise of a wedding, which is one of the funniest parts of the movie, where the bride and groom are "lovin' each other 24-7."

Drew can't get a hold of anyone...except for Claire. They talk all night and end up meeting for the sunrise. After this, they part ways and she pops in and out of his life until after the funeral when she shows up at the memorial service. Here, all of the sides of the family are bonded by love for the deceased, but have to flee after a pyrotechnical disaster of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."

Anyway, she insists that Drew take a road trip back to Oregon and not call her until he has. She has mapped it out for him, complete with tourist stops and music on CR-Rs. Once on the trip, Drew finally has the chance to grieve for his father's death and, in the end, finds out what his priorities should be.

"Elizabethtown" is, in many ways, typical fodder for Cameron Crowe. After his great endeavors, of which "Almost Famous" is a personal favorite, it isn't really surprising that he would follow with a similar plot. Namely, confused and/or disillusioned characters that search for America as well as themselves.

The actors for this film were, for the most part, surprising choices. Dunst, who is usually sugary-sweet and nauseating, is not that bad in this movie, probably because she plays a kooky free-spirit (which is just about the only thing she can do well) and her emotional exposure is kept to a minimum.

Susan Sarandon, as the mother, is incredibly effective, showing how different people deal with grief in different ways. The real surprise is Bloom, who, in the first movie out of pirate tights, elf ears or chain mail shows that he is actually quite a versatile actor.

"Elizabethtown" is a surprisingly well executed and touching movie. It does drag in a few parts and focuses perhaps where it shouldn't; some of the voice-overs by Bloom can get preachy as well. Let's blame it on Tom Cruise, who helped produce the film (suppose that means he gave money).

One of the things that really takes this movie all the way is the soundtrack-once again typical Cameron Crowe. Blending bluegrass, southern rock and Elton John, it's sure to be an addition to many collections. If nothing else, toe-tapping good music is a good enough reason to see this film.

This is cache, read story here