Watch A Love Song for Bobby Long For Free

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I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A meandering movie, saved by a strong second half, and a couple of powerhouse stars.When a young woman, Purslane 'Pursy" Will, (Scarlett Johansson), learns that her estranged mother has died, she travels to the house she owned in New Orleans. She meets ex-university professor, Bobby Long (John Travolta), and his friend Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), who also shared the house. Although both have scholastic achievements behind them, they are now near alcoholics.Believing her mother left the house to her, Pursy decides to stay although Bobby claims it was also left to him. Initially antagonistic, the trio settle into an uneasy alliance when Pursy attempts to renew her education. After a number of revelations, Pursy eventually gains a better understanding about her relationship with her mother and also with Bobby.Throwing a group of disparate people together into a household has been a staple of sitcoms for decades. However, "A Love Song for Bobby Long" is anything but a sitcom or a comedy. In reality, the addition of an eighteen-year-old girl into a household of much older, drunken males is something that would normally have a social worker rushing to fill out forms. However, the story doesn't really go in that direction.Shainee Gabel not only wrote the screenplay, but also co-produced and directed the film. Sometimes doing everything yourself works fine, and you are hailed as an auteur, but the flip side is when the work shows there was no one to turn to for some objective criticism.Actors seem drawn to Southern dramas. Maybe it's the challenge of the accents or the memories of Big Daddy, Stanley, Blanche and Stella. Whatever it is, the results are often over-the-top. As Bobby, John Travolta does his best with some odd passages, especially when he relates the story of his boyhood friend who had a special piece of pussy. It's hardly Mark Twain, and the film struggles to overcome this, plus some cloying monologues.Scarlett Johansson is an arresting presence. She projects that uber calm sultriness, drawing all eyes to her, especially males. She steps up a gear in a warm dance sequence with John Travolta. However the way she and everyone else in the cast smoke, you would think the film was made in 1944 not 2004.The second half of the film has some emotional twists that give closure, even if they do seem a little abrupt. The film looks good, capturing New Orleans the year before Katrina. The end result is a film that is likable, although I can't help feeling that the main reason for this is the charisma of Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta.

When I first selected this film on the Encore package I knew it would be a good one because John Travolta has emerged as one of the great actors of our time. He has come a long way since his dancing days in 'Saturday Night Fevor.' I was not disappointed, as the entire cast was outstanding and the screenplay writer put up one out of the south as it is today.The music was terrific and, although the film may be slow to some, why don't you watch a movie with an aging Bruce Willis or Sylvestor Stallone trying to act like a stud? Clint Estwood as least acts his age, ex's: 'Heartbreak Ridge' and 'Gran Torino.' Travolta was made up to look older; no problem, I am 71 and I don't care if people think I'm old.At first, I thought the film was set in Mississippi, the 'fattest' state in the USA. Let me reiterate, I have been to every state and most countries and no people are kinder than Missippippi's or Louisiananites. If fat people are jolly and caring, I'd like to live there in a New York minute. The food is great! Is the 'Cock of the Walk' restaurant near Jackson still operating? That was a great experience; also, riding on 'Desire' and sitting in the back of the bus in Jackson, a white guy in a grey flannel suit.

The reason I bring up my lack of familiarity with Southern expression is that watching Love Song for Bobby Long I imagine the movie is how the quintessential Southern novel would transmute itself onto the screen. Recognizing that New Orleans is sui generis, even as a Southern setting, one sees in Love Song all that one associates with the slower, warmer, deeply floral, musically textured way of living down there. One also sees the haven for lost souls, where regardless of the particular life's flailing that knocked you down, people gather 'round you in a mutual effort at restoration... or not. Whether you go back to the fight or stick around, you belong here, here in the tender, familial embrace of New Orleans. When the character Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht)—the words above are read as narrative text from his novel about Bobby, to close the movie—"sees what is invisible and knows what to write," he's pointing out that this is not only a place for getting restored, it's a destination for those who crave the reality of life... the emotional—sometimes stark, always honest—reality. This movie is Pines' narrative poetry, presumably from the real author (Ronald Everett Capps), in motion. ...For my complete review of this movie and for other movie and book reviews, please visit my site TheCoffeeCoaster.com.Brian Wright Copyright 2009

The European market is overflowing with US productions and most of the times we - the European public - manage to appreciate what is thrown at us from Hollywood. However, some movies truly get lost in translation. This one is a perfect example. New Orleans and the Louisiana are almost always depicted in movies as a country quite different from the rest of the US. The folks living down there are portrayed as unpleasant, racist, Gothic, mysterious and incredibly weird. Not mention drunkards. Given this background we are also given two big stars (Travolta and Johansson) and a couple of minor characters. The whole story is basically about Travolta trying to win an Oscar and Johansson trying to do the same. Both characters talk a lot and everything else sinks under the weight of their lengthy and boring dialogs. There should be something involving painful stories from the past and a bit of redemption, but nothing in the plot goes beyond mediocrity.What gets lost in translation is the whole Southern setting which probably should bring something to the story, but to me it meant only that people in Louisiana are not very elegant.The main thing I retained from this movie is that two big stars accepted to appear in less than attractive make-up and clothing and to look like regular people (a refreshing sight, I have to admit). Unfortunately, I felt not the slightest involvement in their allegedly sad story exactly because in these days huge stars alway play OTT (the secret agent, the slick assassin, the millionaire seductress) and are quite unbelievable as normal people.Boring, boring, boring movie.