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Movies / On DVD / A Love Song for Bobby Long
A Love Song for Bobby Long

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A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)

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Reviews Counted:98

Fresh:42

Rotten:56

Average Rating:5.5/10

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language including some sexual references

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 29, 2004 Limited

Box Office: $121,476

Synopsis: Lions Gate Films' A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG is the poignant story of a wayward girl and two men, each scarred by their pasts, who struggle to mend their broken lives and create a home together in... Lions Gate Films' A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG is the poignant story of a wayward girl and two men, each scarred by their pasts, who struggle to mend their broken lives and create a home together in a forgotten section of New Orleans. Starring John Travolta, Scarlett Johannson, Gabriel Macht and Deborah Kara Unger, A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG is the feature film directorial debut of Shainee Gabel (ANTHEM), who wrote the screenplay based on Ronald Everett Capps' soon-to-be-published novel, Off Magazine Street. The film is produced by Bob Yari, R. Paul Miller and David Lancaster. Upon hearing of her mother's death, jaded teenage loner Purslane Hominy Will (Scarlett Johansson) returns to New Orleans for the first time in years, ready to reclaim her childhood home. Expecting to find her late mother's house abandoned, Pursy is shocked to discover that it is inhabited by two of her mother's friends: Bobby Long (John Travolta), a former literature professor, and his young protégé, Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht). These broken men, whose lives took a wrong turn years before, have been firmly rooted in the dilapidated house for years, encouraged only by Lawson's faltering ambitions to write a novel about Bobby Long's life. Having no intention of leaving, Pursy, Bobby Long and Lawson are all forced to live together. Yet as time passes, their tenuous, makeshift arrangement unearths a series of buried personal secrets that challenges their bonds, and reveals just how inextricably their lives are intertwined... A story about love and human frailty, A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG is at once a lyrical ode to the rich, decaying romanticism of New Orleans and a powerful drama about lives haunted by the past. -- © Lions Gate Films [More]

Starring: John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger

Starring: John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger

Director: Shainee Gabel, Bob Yari

Director: Shainee Gabel
Screenwriter: Shainee Gabel
Producer: Brad Krevoy, Randall Emmett, George Furla
Director: Bob Yari
Producer: R. Paul Miller, David Lancaster
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Apr 19, 2005

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Reviews for A Love Song for Bobby Long

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
01/13/05
Ebert & Roeper
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
AV Club
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/30/05
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
01/15/05
Logan Hill
Logan Hill
New York Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
01/15/05
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

Traffics in nearly every trite cliche of the 'colorful' South one can think of.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/28/05
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

Travolta's performance is idiosyncratic but not particularly appealing. He's hampered by an overbearing, sophomoric script and, worse, it's apparent that he doesn't believe in the character, not for one second.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
01/27/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

And are we to believe that Pursy, in Scarlett Johansson form, sits around all day eating spoons of peanut butter dipped in M&Ms (apparently the definitive white trash treat)?

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
01/13/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

This film tries to be lyric and succeeds at times but it is not a classic like the books they reference... Their heart may be in it, but their song is slightly out of tune.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
12/31/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

A Love Song for Bobby Long travels all the worn-out roads.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
01/28/05
Connie Ogle
Connie Ogle
Miami Herald

Delights as often as it dulls the senses.

Full Review Source: Movie Boeuf | comment Comment
02/02/05
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
Movie Boeuf

An atmospheric Southern Gothic melodrama.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/27/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Bobby Long makes you want to reach for a classic New Orleans cure -- let's say, a Sazerac in a go-cup -- and drink yourself to sweet oblivion.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/27/05
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Better in sections than as a whole, and those sections don't arrive at a steady enough pace to undo its failings.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
12/14/04
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

Exasperating Southern-lit seminar.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/28/04
Ed Park
Ed Park
Village Voice

It's a self-conscious Southern Gothic, awash in literate eccentrics with stories to tell and songs to sing.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
01/27/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Suffers from a galloping case of Southernitis.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
12/30/04
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

The best reason to see Love Song, a typical Southern tale, is Scarlett Johansson in yet another astonishing performance as a misfit with magical powers of redemption.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/30/04
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

First-time director Shainee Gabel generally does a good job of moving things along, though the story feels disjointed at times.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/28/05
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

So well-intentioned and heartfelt that it might have been a great film if only it were interesting.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
12/28/04
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather
 
 
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