A Followup to the Acclaimed....

Why is it that some movies just work and when the director tries to repeat that success there seems to be something missing? My two favorite examples are Zach Braff's Garden State/The Last Kiss and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous/Elizabethtown. I think part of it relates to the fact that both sets of movies appeal to certain age groups. The first movie of the two pairs was the hit movie. The second movie of the pairs tries to recreate the same feelings for an older demographic. Would the second movies have been as big a hit if they'd been released first? I don't know if anyone who's seen The Last Kiss before Garden State, but I do know a few who saw Elizabethtown before Almost Famous. My guess is that the first movies were hits because they focus on the creation of an identity for the main character. The leads grow throughout the movies into self-awareness about their upbringings and their desires. The second set of movies also tries to have that same self-aware realization, but when brought to an older generation seems odd, since as one grows older, identity becomes based on outside influences and relationships. Family and work become as equally important as self. My reaction to the leads in the first set was sympathy. In the second, disappointment that the leads were forsaking their other commitments for the pursuit of self-realization that should have happened years previous. I don't know, I've been trying to finish this post or about a month now and might be rambling towards the end. Tell me your thoughts.