Sorry, this movie sucks

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

As Good As It Gets

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I thought this movie was beautiful. All actors' performances are really good. And the characters were very well depicted by them and the director. Even though you may wonder as the film goes on if Pursley is Bobby's daughter, which she actually is, it doesn't keep you to intrigued with that's going on in their lives. And the way the truth is finally revealed and how they react to it is mesmerizing. A feeling of joy scape and reaches you in the middle of all the chaos that their lives had emerged. Not holding back any moment, you fall in love with all that mess and charms of these people that without having a real clue are trying to do something good with their lives, even though they're not sure about it. It's a real life story well told.

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.

I liked this film, but one thing I can't figure out is why the characters of Travolta and Macht gave no signs of being a couple. The explanation given for the fact that the teacher and student spent nine years living together is that the student, Macht, felt guilty about the death of the teacher's son. That and the fact that he had promised to write Bobby Long's (Travolta) biography. That's just not credible enough a motive for spending so much time together in poverty and booze.By any standards of plausibility, there should at least have been the insinuation of an amorous past between the two. Otherwise it just looks odd.