Just a badly misfired film from a once great director

I don't think this film would have done any better even if Orlando Bloom or Kristen Dunst weren't cast in the roles they were. It's just never worked for me, that's a shame as Crowe made one of my favorite films ever in Almost Famous, his masterpiece and last truly great film.

I thought the whole third act with Bloom's trip with Dunst character's silly travel book could have been cut and it could have ended with her and Bloom's character getting together at the Memorial Lunch for his father. Would have got to the same point without having to suffer through 20 minutes of Dunst voice/over and on the nose points, He visits the place where Martin Luther King was shot, and what is played U2's Pride. Made me want to gag. Dunst's character was just annoying hipster and wasn't likable at all. That's not her fault, it was the way it was written and no actress would have made it better.

This film should have been like something like the great British movie Local Hero, Bloom's character is a rich business guy, goes to his estranged father's funeral, meets up with the folks of the town and becomes enchanted by the place. Screw romances with Pixie girls and crap like that.