There's a vast difference between having failed at something versus causing a fiasco. Everyone fails or makes mistakes at times. We cannot learn nor can we advance in life without experiencing failure. In Elizabethtown, Drew Baylor speaks from his own experience when he says that failure is merely the presence of non-succss but a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions. 

Drew (Orlando Bloom) has been lauded for his talents as a shoe designer. His latest creation, the Spasmotica, was supposed to be groundbreaking for its technology and the ability to simulate walking on a cloud. But the company he works for is now about to lose 972 million dollars on Drew's  design.

Phil (Alec Baldwin), Drew’s boss, is known for having an innate ability to know what consumers want. His vision has never been wrong before, so he lacks a rulebook to deal with the fiasco Drew has brought down upon his company. The only thing left to do is distance himself and the company from his employee's failure.

Drew becomes suicidal. He configures his exercise bike to peddle backwards while a knife stabs him in the heart. Before his attempt at suicide can succeed, Drew's sister Heather (Judy Greer) calls to tell him his father died of a heart attack while visiting their Uncle Dale in Kentucky. She explains that he needs to take care of the funeral arrangements because his father’s side of the family has their own ideas about the funeral and are pushing their will. Heather cannot handle such responsibility, and besides, Drew has always been the responsible one.

Drew leaves for Kentucky but promises himself the moment he gets back he is back on the exercise bike. On a red-eye flight to Louisville, he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a lonely flight attendant who attempts to move him up to first class to avoid walking back and forth to the back of the plane. Drew is tired, but -- since he is the only passenger -- Claire makes herself comfortable by sitting next to him and chatting with him. She even draws him a detailed map of where he's going. She's friendly but also obnoxious and clingy at times. 

Drew checks into the Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville where Chuck (Jed Rees) and Cindy are to be married the next morning. Ironically, members of their entire wedding party are booked into rooms across the hall from Drew. On one side of the hall a celebration of life is taking place. On the other, a man looking forward to death.

Drew has to make a series of calls all of which should go smoothly. They do not. He phones his girlfriend Ellen (Jessica Biel) who tells him their relationship is over. He then calls Heather who is going insane because Hollie (their mother, played by Susan Sarandon) has not stopped moving since she learned of her husband‘s death.

Finally, he calls Claire, intending only to thank her for drawing the map. Considering he will be dead in a few days, he's not looking for a companion, but the pair end up conversing the entire evening into the morning hours. When Claire realizes they are only 45 minutes away from one another, she persuades Drew to meet her. Can Claire capture Drew's heart and prevent his death? Will Drew's sister and mother be okay as well as have their wishes for his father's funeral honored?

Although writer/director Cameron Crowe provides humor and entertainment in Elizabethtown, we never learn why Claire is alone and seems to enjoy it. What makes her interested enough in Drew all of a sudden to follow him around? And why is she viewed as only a substitute for someone else? The editing is also flawed here. Some scenes need to be tightened up and narration used more sparingly.   

While Elizabethtown does not come up to the standard of  Almost Famous (Crowe's finest work), it's definitely worth a look.  

(Released by Paramount Pictures and rated "PG-13" for language and some sexual references.)