Love Song

New Orleans is a major character in this film. Not the French Quarter as we usually see but the slums that gave us the music and character of this unique place in all the world. You have to ask yourself why and how did a first time unknown director get two major stars to make this budget film in three weeks in August of 2004. The answer is script, script and script. A good story seems harder to find than $100 million in LA. We have remakes of remakes of TV shows and comic books. The story is very good; the look of the film is great and Travolta and Johansson bring their gifts to the lead roles. Deb Unger is particularly fetching and dignified. The real New Orleans that is probably gone forever after the Katrina disaster is reason enough to cherish this film and add it to your permanent collection. Also loved the way JT used that old Gibson LG-1 as a prop and actually played it and sang a few tunes!

If you like movies that are character driven, then this is one for you to watch.

I have never seen Scarlett Johanssen in anything before. I have to say she impressed me here with her performance as Pursalane Hominy Will (ain't that a mouthful of a name!). Travolta does a nice turn as the titular Bobby Long, a former English professor who has fallen into the depths of an alcohol induced fantasy life. Gabriel Macht also does a good job as Lawson Pines, Bobby Long's former teaching assistant who has accompanied Long into his descent out of a sense of loyalty and guilt.

Perhaps the most interesting character, to me, is the one you never see, Lorraine Will; a New Orleans diva and the mother of young Pursey. Lorraine's death from alcoholism is what brings our characters together, and much like Alex in The Big Chill, we never once see or hear from Lorraine (not even in voice-over when Pursey reads a letter never sent to her by Lorraine), but we experience her through the people in this movie. It is a brave choice for the director to make, as I believe others would opt for more direct exposition via flashback, voice-overs, etc.

In the end, while there is a certain formulaic approach to the story, the characters are done well enough that you enjoy the story anyway.

for each detail. for New Orleans who becomes part of the stories about it. for John Travolta who reminds his real artistic virtues. for story, heavy, cool, fascinating, slow, dramatic and familiar, for Gabriel Macht behind "Suits" and for Scarlett Johansson and her science to escape by the temptation of clichés. one of old fashion about South, with strong flavor and the time different by the rest of world, a poem about friendship and about solitude and about the escaping from yourself.

Reviews for "A Love Song for Bobby Long" are falling in the range from terrible to fantastic. My vote is closer to the fantastic end. The movie gets off to a slow start, but starts to work about a quarter into the film. The story unfolds at a slow pace; fitting for its locale. The character development for the three main characters (Travolta, Johansson and Macht) is well-woven into the story. Each character is flawed and through a series of events overcomes their problem. That to me is interesting movie-making. No storyline or subplot was left hanging at the end. Maybe I was tired, but I didn't see the end of the movie coming in the first five minutes as one comment stated. This movie is worth your time.

This is a movie about two alcoholics. One middle-aged and the other on his way to that age. It's difficult to say which company they prefer, the bottle or each other.

Than the young girl arrives and shakes their world. You've seen that theme many times in movie history, but this is for once done in a very intelligent way. Gabriel Macht is very good and Scarlett Johansson, the greatest talent of her young generation, too. But Travolta is probably doing the part of his life so far. Travolta is now a character actor, if anyone is.

American movies don't always tell about these kind of losers in such a sympathetic way. But this one does. The end is sentimental, but never mind. The ride towards that is really worth seeing.