The bride and I watched the movie "Elizabethtown" last night. (We watched "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" Saturday night and saw the birth of Brangelina. The movie was OK, but the fire between Brad and Angelina was moving. Not really, I made that up.)I wasn't too sure about watching "Elizabethtown" because I had heard it was a chick-flick. And it was to a certain extent. But what I enjoyed about it was the way the people from this small Southern town were portrayed.
It would have been easy to have them all in overalls, dipping Skoal and sucking on long necks the whole time. But the director chose to make them realistic. These were people I grew up with, the kind of people that most of us who live (or have lived) in small towns in the South grew up with. They weren't stupid. Sure they were comical at times, but they weren't ignorant.
One of my favorite scenes was when Drew drove into town for the first time. Everyone waved at him and literally pointed him towards his destination. Kids on bikes, people on front porches and on the courthouse steps, old men on benches. Although he hadn't been there in years, everyone knew him. It was like he was coming home, even though home was about 2,000 miles away in Oregon. (My other favorite scene was when the band played "Free Bird" at the funeral. That's a scene you've got to see.)
And they all hugged him. It was uncomfortable for Drew at first, but he grew into it. But that's just what we Southerners do - we hug.
I used to think small towns were overrated. The older I get, the better they look.....
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