Review of A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) by Nick P — 10 Mar 2010

"It's all right, I can walk to the curb from here. Get me a beer.".

Director: Shainee Gabel.

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

Running time: 119 minutes.

Country: USA.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't really see what was so good about this film because I thought that there were some scenes in this film that were sort of inappropriate and was really slow and really boring. I didn't really like the story because it was just a story that was obviously emotional but was a story that I didn't even have a clue what was going on. The only thing I actually knew was that Hominy lived with Bobby and Lawson and they both were good friends with Hominy's mother. I thought the story was quite boring and was pretty much a dull story to watch. I couldn't really feel anything personal in this film but there were some scenes in this film that I actually lived.

Scarlett Johansson delivers a good performance as Purslane Hominy Will because she really looked like a gorgeous young woman who is troubled by her past. It is a character that makes Scarlett Johansson look like a young school student because that is what her character is and also because Scarlett was only 19 or 20 when this film came out. I dont think she was quite good enough for a Golden Globe nomination in which she actually got. I didn't really like John Travolta in this film because he made Bobby Long like a bizarrely nice looking old man even though Bobby Long is supposed to be a complete greaser and a complete grumpy old man. But I did think that John Travolta did look funny with white hair.

I wasn't really impressed with the direction from Shainee Gabel because I felt like he/she didn't even try and make something out of this film. However, this film was well written. The script was like almost flawless but there were some lines that were said in the wrong scenes but sounded quite good. Scarlett Johansson has always been good at portraying young troubled characters. She was a sort of troubled and stressed out character in Lost In Translation and the same with Woody Allen's Match Point. John Travolta's character was really greasy sort of character but I feel that it was very similar to the older version of Danny Zuko in Grease who is also portrayed by John Travolta but is obviously a lot older because John Travolta was Danny almost 30 years before he portrayed Bobby Long. This film was just really disappointing for me because of the extremely slow and confusing dialogue and also I didnt really like the characters within the film. But it was well written and the acting was descent.

This is my least favourite Scarlett Johansson film but isnt my least favourite John Travolta film. He is worst in Face Off, Ladder 49 and Hairspray. Wasnt really impressed with it but I have seen a lot worst films though.