Elizabethtown

Welcome back, boys.

As somebody once said...

there's a difference between a failure...

and a fiasco.

Watch your head.

I'm fine.

A failure is simply the non-presence of success.

Any fool can accomplish failure.

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

What the hell's he doing here?

But a fiasco...

A fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions.

A fiasco is a folktale told to others...

that makes other people feel more alive...

because it didn't happen to them.

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I'll take you to Phil so you don't get lost.

Mercury Worldwide Shoes, which is actually Phil...

contains some of America's finest artists' masterworks...

seen only by people heading for very important meetings...

a promotion...

or otherwise.

"We are not just employees," as Phil once said.

"We are denizens of greatness."

Phil says, "The world is full of those who achieve through negativity...

"or theft.

"We succeed through original thought."

A shoe is not just a shoe.

It connects us to the Earth.

The right shoe can transport us...

make us believe we are capable of more.

But there are sacrifices for a goal like pure greatness.

Like birthdays or last Christmas with my family.

...through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dig in. And no making fun of my cooking.

- This must be homemade. - Oh, Dad.

Though we sometimes celebrate odd things at Mercury...

like the day the Italians invented rubber.

Which they didn't, of course. But that's beside the point.

Where exactly is Drew, anyway?

We've contained magic in a shoe!

It was meant to approximate walking on a cloud.

Hey, if you ever need anything around here...

I'm your girl.

Any true student of functional shoe design...

is also a student of Phil himself.

He is a master.

And Phil's innate wisdom of what people want and need...

has never failed to date.

I'm fine.

He's also obsessed with the number two.

These are Phil's prized two Norman Rockwells.

The pair of paintings that once hung outside the White House office...

of John F. Kennedy.

And yes, the two treasured doors...

Phil once purchased from a church on vacation in Tunisia...

and had sent back home for a total cost too enormous to mention.

$762,000.

Each.

Just two more minutes and I can send you in.

Because we have a moment here...

let me tell you that I have recently become a secret connoisseur...

of last looks.

You know the way people look at you when they believe it's for the last time?

I've started collecting these looks and...

Okay, he's ready for you.

There's one right now.

How are you, Drew?

I wanted to jump out of the window of that helicopter...

and just splatter on the trees, to tell you the truth.

Don't do that.

It's only money.

The American psyche is in turmoil, Drew, and we have miscalculated.

I'm sorry.

I have no rulebook for this situation.

They tell me that we are about to lose 972...

million dollars.

I am...

ill-equipped in the philosophies of failure.

Walk with me, Drew.

My basketball team.

They don't even know yet.

My Global Environmental Watchdog project will have to go.

Sweet people.

We could have saved the planet...

but...

How do I make the concept of $972,000,000...

more real to you?

It's the operating budget of a midsize country...

a small civilization.

It's big!

It's so big...

you could round it off to a billion dollars.

I cry a lot lately.

The promise of a global future...

pinned to a groundbreaking shoe, your design...

with a new form of material, launched this week to great fanfare.

And now, meeting a growing international roar of laughter...

and rejection.

Enough to cause this memo...

from Jeffrey Barlow, CEO of DCS.

"This once highly-anticipated product...

"may actually cause an entire generation to return to bare feet."

We are about to enter...

a free-fall plunge.

And the sound you hear is the sound of shit hitting the fan.

Globally.

You hear it?

I wish there was something I could do.

Actually, there is.

In a room downstairs is a reporter from Global Business Today.

We need to make him understand...

we hired you from our National Scholarship Program.

We supported, invested in your brilliance.

This was a very creative endeavor...

and I think you should stand up...

for your incredible work.

You okay?

I'm...

It's a little bit like knowing the plane's going down before anyone else, isn't it?

- When does this run, a week? - A week.

Come Sunday evening, it'll be on the stands.

Any last words?

And in that moment, I knew.

I know we hired you at the last minute but...

Success...

Success, not greatness...

was the only god the entire world served.

Home sweet home.

Eight years. Night and day.

Can you imagine?

An entire life wrapped up in a shoe.

Yello?

Drew? It's your sister.

I have some really bad news.

Could you call me tomorrow?

No.

- Could you call me a little later? - No, honey.

Dad died!

He had a heart attack back in Kentucky.

He was still visiting Uncle Dale.

Mom is in total shock.

You have to handle this.

You're the oldest.

You're the responsible one.

I don't know why he went to Kentucky. I don't know what the attraction was.

He was born there.

They never liked me there. They never have.

Drew will take care of everything.

Honey, you understand I can't go because of the baby.

- I'll be back in two days. - I'll man the phones.

I'll always be the one that snatched him away from them.

The two sides of this family have never integrated well...

so don't expect to make a lot of friends when you go there.

- Drew doesn't make friends, Mom. - I have friends.

- Do you have the blue suit? - I have the blue suit.

He loved that silly blue suit.

God only knows if I made him truly happy.

I'll call from Kentucky. I'll be there in the morning.

- We have a plan! - We have a plan...

and you hold your head up high...

because don't you forget, you go back there as the most successful man...

in the history of this family. Don't let them try anything.

Oh, my God. I have to call people.

I have to clean out the office, I'm a widow!

We'll figure this out, we'll figure this out. Just get Dad home. Hurry.

I was still waiting for everything to start, and now it's over.

I'll bring him home.

Wait, wait! Stay close. Come, come, come.

Now, what was it that Dad always said?

- If it wasn't this... - It would be something else.

Now, you go. You go and you make him proud.

And you call and tell me what's going on, okay? All right.

I would go to Kentucky...

put my father in the blue suit, bring him home...

and then get back on that bike.

Nothing would stop the plan.

Sir.

Sir.

By flying this flight, you've helped save all our jobs.

Definitely mine. Maybe even the entire airline.

We would like to reward you with a free seat in first class.

I'm fine.

Okay, let me try it like this.

I'm really tired. Please don't make me keep walking...

all the way back down here all night long.

Louisville, Kentucky, huh? Home, business, or family?

My dad.

Where does he live in Louisville?

Actually, he's near Louisville.

Louisville.

He's in Elizabethtown.

Oh, good. I hope someone's driving you...

'cause the roads around there are hopelessly and gloriously confusing.

I'll keep that in mind.

I'll draw you a quick map.

I mean, I'm so happy we're sitting here having this conversation...

at 3:00 a.m., or whatever time it is.