Lately you've got to wonder what Orlando Bloom's performance would be like without a sword, bow or an automatic rifle in his hands. Forget the green screens and the computer generated armies and pirates. Lose the body armor and what do you have left? Bloom stars in a tale of failure and trying to learn how to deal with it in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown.

Etown is 2 parts finding yourself, 1 part learning your roots, 1 part dealing with life and just a hint of the great American road trip. Bloom plays Drew Baylor, a shoe designer who has one hell of a bad day. First causing his company to lose nearly a billion dollars, getting fired, getting dumped and being just seconds from comitting a spectacularly creative suicide, Drew receives a phone call from his sister (Judy Greer). "Dad died and mom's lost it. You have to be the responsible one and go get him." The plan is to fly from Oregon to Elizabethtown, Kentucky to make sure his father's wishes are seen to (cremation), bring his father back home to his mother and get back to his apartment to close out his own life.

On the flight to Kentucky, Drew reluctantly meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant who can't help to spread her boundless energy to her passengers. She sneaks her cell phone number onto an impromptu road map she draws for him and after arriving to a deluge of barely recognizable relatives and friends in a po-dunk town, Drew calls her not really knowing what to say. Their 5 hour conversation turns into a romantic non-romance that helps Drew realize that failure isn't so bad, no matter how spectacular it turns out to be.

It's hard to classify a movie like this. It's a drama with comedy timing that isn't dripping with romance. The comedy stems from the mix of small town Kentucky characters and their small town ways, something clearly new to Drew, who didn't really know his dad, but gets pieces from those who knew him best. I expect the women in the audience will need a tissue from time to time, but there is enough humor to balance it out.

Completing the film is a road trip sequence across the heartland of America as Drew journeys home contemplating his own life and accomplishments. I can't see Elizabethtown as a big award winner. Bloom gives a great performance, tear jerking at times, but Dunst stumbles over her southern accent, eventually losing it completely by the end of the movie. Susan Sarandon plays a wonderfully frantic widower whose character could have been explored a bit more for the laughs and Jessica Biel's presence is all but invisible; she could have phoned it in.

As a whole though, Elizabethtown is great entertainment, kind of like comfort food for the eyes. This is a film doomed to have split criticisms, though I can recommend it as a heartwarming, funny flic with a message that isn't crammed down your gullet.