Trailer: Cameron Crowe's 'We Bought a Zoo,' Starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson
by Scott Nye
In the last ten years, it's become quite fashionable to dismiss Cameron Crowe outright.
After holding the world by the balls with the one-two punch of "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous," Crowe immediately turned out "Vanilla Sky," an admittedly flawed film that's so insanely ambitious I actually still like it quite a bit.
It was hardly what anyone expected from the guy who gave us such cultural catchphrases as "you had me at hello," though, and in spite of being fairly successful ($100 million domestic against a $68 million budget), it's become nearly universally derided.
Still, many were willing to let bygones by bygones, because hey, we did so love those other movies. And his next one, "Elizabethtown," seemed more up his alley - successful businessman turns failure just in time to go back home and reconnect with family following his father's death. Unfortunately, no one was buying Crowe's insanely schmaltzy vision of redemption and mourning, and the fallout was worse than a failure (it did okay at the box office) - it was an embarassment.
Over the past 5 years, Crowe has been quietly working on passion projects like the music documentaries "The Union," about the making of an album between Elton John and Leon Russell; and "Pearl Jam 20," about the formation of the seminal alt-rock band. Both have come out this year.
Crowe's latest film is the Matt Damon vehicle "We Bought a Zoo," adapted from the memoir of a British man (Crowe relocated the locale to the States, no no embarassing accents here) who did indeed buy a zoo.
The trailer was released today, and while those who didn't much care for "Elizabethtown" certainly won't find this a return to form for the populist director, those of us who love Crowe's honesty might be more enthused.
Me? I adore "Elizabethtown," warts and all, but even I'm a little nervous about this. The comic moments are really broad, and the more heartfelt ones run on the edge of pandering - Crowe may be a populist writer/director, but I've found his work to be strictly from the heart.
We'll find out one way or another on December 23rd, when the film opens in wide release.