This movie is not new.

This movie was not contemporary in its thinking.

This movie was not a box office hit.

This movie costarred Orlando Bloom, and let’s face it, his best work came in the form of an elf.

But this movie is the song of my people. These are my people.

If you are a southerner, a foodie, have too many cousins, have attended too many funerals, or have ever existed slap-dab in the middle of families on two sides fighting over nothing, then this is a movie you should see.

“I love the soundrack. If Elton John wailing to My Father’s Gun doesn’t get you, then you just cain’t be got.”

Elizabethtown is the story of an Oregonian coming to the South to bring his father’s body home. It has Paula Deen. It has scores of mismatched picture frames nailed into ugly wallpaper. It has a seven-year-old tearing down the driveway in a Cadillac. It has a wannabe rock star playing Free Bird while an abundantly-feathered papier-mache bird is accidentally set ablaze in a ballroom in the middle of a wake.

Y’all, it’s a ride.

I love how honest they got the Southern accent (which Hollywood rarely manages to do). I love the soundrack. If Elton John wailing to My Father’s Gun doesn’t get you, then you just cain’t be got. I love the evil stares as someone dares to even entertain the idea of cremation instead of a proper Christian burial. I love the giant hair, and the rural simplicity, and the bromance that develops in a hotel hallway.

If all that weren’t enough, this movie offered up the mantra I choose to live by. In the middle of the funny, poignant, bittersweet, awfully tender film about family, came one of the most thoughtful eulogies I’ve ever heard, and a line so perfect, I’ve shaped my marriage, career, and friendships after this one nugget:

All forward motion counts.

Get up. Start again. Try something else. Try anything. Do something. All forward motion counts.

But where to start? Start with this movie or this song.

Director: Cameron Crowe

With: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandan, Paula Deen

Rated PG-13

Run time: 123 MIN

Airing currently on Showtime

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JENA DUNHAM

Jena believes that all the world’s problems could be solved if we collectively resolved ourselves to three pursuits: good food, good stories, and cute shoes. Her ideal 1948 dinner party would include Lucille Ball for laughs, Tallulah Bankhead for drama, Bing Crosby for entertainment, Leo Burnett for inspiration, and a hazmat suit to shield against the cigarette smoke. By day, she runs an award-winning marketing agency in Atlanta, Georgia. By night, she’s dedicated to Conversational, her husband, and her bratty cat.

Not new movie review: Elizabethtown

All forward motion counts.