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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

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

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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Reviews for A Love Song for Bobby Long

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Scarlett gets a GED and Travolta plays an old drunk with a black toe.

Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment Comment
12/11/04
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

When A Love Song for Bobby Long concentrates on moving its plot forward, it aims too wide and clumsily lays bare all its secrets and twists.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/28/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Gabel has potentially challenging material on her hands but her treatment of it feels too hygienic, mistaking tastefulness for subtlety

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Alternative | comment Comment
01/10/05
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Los Angeles Alternative

John is a fine actor, he's not quite a match for this part, nor does his southern accent ring true. Perhaps Billy Bob Thornton would have made a better cast.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
02/05/05
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

Nothing special.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/27/05
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Generates a bit of sentiment when it’s looking the other way but it’s too little too late.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
01/24/05
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

Tries the patience of sober viewers, who are likely to envy the onscreen eccentrics their ever-present plastic cups of Abita...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
03/14/05
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

This may not be a big picture, but its pleasures will linger long.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/06/04
Ray Bennett
Ray Bennett
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The acting by Scarlett Johansson is so raw and sincere that the film leaves an impact despite its deficiencies.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
12/29/04
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

might be a story with greatest appeal to those who like their conflicts and issues soft, quiet, and unexplosive

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/27/04
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Filmcritic.com

A Love Song For Bobby Long is a heart-affecting drama about an improvised family fashioned with love, care, and creativity by writer and director Shainee Gabel.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
12/12/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

It must be said that the Hollywood Foreign Press, in this case anyway, was dead-on: the movie belongs to Scarlett Johansson.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
12/29/04
Brett Buckalew
Brett Buckalew
FilmStew.com

The film shares many qualities with its rambling and at times honestly endearing characters: it's sloppy, decent-hearted and most often embarrassing.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
03/05/05
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

A Love Song for Bobby Long works hard to give quirk a bad name.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/28/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

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

Qualifies, barely, as a guilty pleasure...with its generous scrapbook of literary wisdom and pleasantly overcooked performances.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
01/27/05
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Stars a miscast John Travolta

Full Review Source: Catholic Sun | comment Comment
01/05/05
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Catholic Sun

Saturated with fertile colors and great regional rock and blues, the unhurried atmosphere seems as intoxicated as its characters.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
11/30/04
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

A Faulknerian idiot man-child of a Southern Gothic.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
12/31/04
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

It's tough to sell a drama, though, if it doesn't find some natural way to rise above the ordinary, and that's this movie's biggest challenge.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
01/02/05
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for A Love Song for Bobby Long

January 06, 2005: John Travolta and James Gandolfini Join Lonely Hearts
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