Ever since emerging in the 1970s from the TV show Welcome Back Kotter, John Travolta was an idol among teens at the time before breaking through to superstardom with 1977's landmark disco film Saturday Night Fever. After scoring another box office hit with the musical Grease in early 1978, Travolta seem poised to among one of the best but it nosedived quickly after starring in a misguided romantic comedy Moment by Moment with Lily Tomlin. Though quickly making a brief comeback in 1980's Urban Cowboy, Travolta's career would falter after the disappointing box office number for Brian de Palma's 1981 thriller Blow Out despite rave reviews for his performance. The 1980s saw him in embarrassing films from the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, a lame reunion with Grease star Olivia Newton-John, and the more embarrassing Perfect with Jamie Lee Curtis. Despite personal success in appearing The Dumb Waiter, Travolta did score a box office hit in 1989 with Look Who's Talking only to be a joke with its sequels.

Finally, it was Quentin Tarantino who gave Travolta the ultimate comeback role with 1994's crime film Pulp Fiction. After nabbing a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Travolta seemed to make good of his comeback with such hits as Get Shorty, Phenomenon, Michael, Face-Off, Primary Colors, and a brief appearance in Terrence Malick's war film The Thin Red Line. With Travolta doing good and being part of the A-list, it seemed like nothing could go wrong yet with his devotion to the Scientology religion, he went into a huge blockbuster project for L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth.

The resulting film was a disaster as the film proved to be a huge blow to his ego. While he continued to make films, none of them met expectations while he was still commanding a $20 million salary and an A-list status. Still, some critics were unhappy at his film choices while Travolta continued to talk about the lessons he learned from film legend Marlon Brando. In 2004, as several of his elder, acting peers chose to go into more serious roles again, Travolta decided to do a small indie film for less, only to not only channel Brando but to be upstaged by one of the hottest and gifted young minimalist actresses around.

Based on a novel by Ronald Everett Capps, A Love Song for Bobby Long is the story of a young woman who returns to New Orleans after hearing the death of her estranged mother. Upon arriving at her mother's home, she learns that a former literature professor and his protégée are living there as well since they claim that she left the house to them. With the young woman trying to stand her ground, she realizes the failed potential of the two broken, alcoholic-induced men while the professor Bobby Long is on his final moments as the woman tries to understand more about her mother and the people around her. Adapted into a script and directed by newcomer Shainee Gabel, A Love Song for Bobby Long is a drama dead-set in the South filled in-fringe characters and locations while revealing the broken path of its three central protagonists. Also starring Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger, and Dane Rhodes. A Love Song for Bobby Long is an earnest drama that only falls short in its outcome and Travolta's inconsistent performance.

Estranged from her mother for years, Pursy Will (Scarlett Johansson) hasn't known anything about her mother. Then one day, she had learned she has died some days ago from a mail not being given to her by her inept boyfriend Lee (Chayne Crawford). She leaves her trailer park home in Panama City, Florida to go to her mother's funeral in New Orleans. Unfortunately, she was too late for the funeral as mourning her mother is a former English professor in Bobby Long (John Travolta) along with some in-fringe people who knew including Long's protégée Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht). Pursy arrives to the home of her mother where she learned that her mother has left the house to not just her but also Bobby and Lawson. Pursy's arrival only disrupts the men's alcoholic-induced lifestyle as Pursy chooses to stay to make the house more productive and adaptable.

Bobby, who often quotes literature and muses about obscene stories, tries to sway Pursy away but Lawson wants to know what Pursy's intentions are. Pursy befriends Lawson along with Cecil (Dane Rhodes), Junior (Dave Jensen), and Lawson's girlfriend Georgianna (Deborah Kara Unger) as he takes around the world to New Orleans. With the knowledge that Pursy is the true sole owner of her mother's house, Bobby does what he can to try to get rid of Pursy only to be temporarily forced out after she stands up to him. Pursy, unsure of what to do with her own life wants to know more about her mother as Bobby returns from a brief trip to Alabama to get Pursy a chance to finish her education.

With the months going by, Pursy and Bobby begin to understand each other though Pursy feels insecure about her own intellect at a private school while she learns about the fragile bond of Lawson and Bobby and what they once were. During a night in the holidays, Pursy learns that Lawson is thinking of leaving the house to live with Georgianna to the dismay of Bobby. Bobby is distraught as he is comforted by Pursy while Lawson returns home as he tells Pursy the story of why Bobby is a full-blown alcoholic and how his own life fell apart. Pursy does what she can to help them both clean up and get her own life together but Bobby, urinating blood, is in his final steps. Pursy helps Bobby until she learns the truth about the home from Lee while also learning more about her own mother and why they never had a relationship along with some mysterious secrets.

While the film has fine moments in the first and second act, the film begins to fall apart in its ever-so predictable third act. Though it's not entirely the fault of Shainee Gabel in her feature-film debut, it seems that her intentions to create a harrowing Southern drama falls by the way side of trying to make something accessible for a wide audience. While there's some fine moments in the directing, Gabel isn't able to pin-point the intentions of the story and what it's really about. Though it seems she’s trying to focus more on the failure of Bobby Long and his relationship with this young, troubled woman, the real focus should’ve been more on Pursy trying to discover about her roots and her mother. It's only her first feature but it’s something that she can learn from.

In the writing department, adaptations aren't easy to do unless you are award-winning team of director Alexander Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor of Sideways fame. While the film has a nice voice-over narrative from the viewpoint of Lawson, there's some moments where the film just rambles on. That rambling often makes the film a bit slow at times though there's some great dialogue between the central characters and the supporting ones as well. Gabel does manage to capture the dreary romanticism of the South, especially in New Orleans in the writing but the uneven approach in the writing and directing only makes the film suffer since it does feel a bit overwritten to the point that there's a few things that needed to be cut. Still, Gabel does a fine job in capturing the elegance of the South though I think she does need to watch the work of David Gordon Green who manages to capture the darkness and beauty of the South in an expertly fashion even though he's only made three features so far.

While the directing has a bit of authenticity to the film, cinematographer Elliot Davis does an amazing job in capturing the gracefulness of New Orleans. Using very little lighting schemes for a natural look of sunlight and city lights, Davis brings that feeling to the South in all of its desolate beauty from the river scenes of blue-green tones to the hot, yellow, orange summer where the heat of the South is wonderfully captured. With production designer Sharon Lomofsky and art director Adele Plauche, the film has a very distinct, gritty look to the bar houses, concert halls, and homes of the South to every detail, including the plants and roots. Even costume designer Jill M. Ohanneson manages to capture the grittiness and colorful side of Southern clothing which shines in the dress that Scarlett Johansson wears. While the film runs nearly two hours long, the editing of Lisa Fruchtman and Lee Percy at times is nicely paced and cut but because of its length, there is a need that a few sequences that can be cut.

If there's one thing New Orleans is about, it's music and composer Nathan Larson does an amazing job in capturing the tone of the city with his elegantly rich score. Even the film has fine soundtrack contributions from the likes of Nada Surf, Los Lobos, and some local artists with a dedication to the jazz and blues of New Orleans. Even John Travolta manages to do a few stripped-down songs with an acoustic guitar though his voice seems to have lost a bit of luster after all of these years.

The film has a nice cast for the most part with some wonderful supporting performances from Dave Jensen as a local musician and an old friend of Pursy's mom who has a wonderful scene with Johansson as he reminisces about the time she saw her mom play as a child. Deborah Kara Unger unfortunately, doesn't fare as well since she just plays a glorified girlfriend who gets dumped in the end and a waitress as she isn't given much to do. The character of Lee by Chayne Crawford is wonderfully done since he is supposed to be an ignorant redneck who doesn’t really understand anything about women.

In a role that I felt should've been expanded is the one of Cecil by Dane Rhodes since he gives a great performance as one of Bobby Long and Lawson's in-fringe buddies as he tells Pursy stories about her mother and some of the local sites that her mother loved while being a surrogate uncle of sorts in a fine, understated performance. Gabriel Macht is the film's breakthrough performance as the sensitive, fragile Lawson who is keen on trying to finish an unfinished biography on Bobby Long only to fall prey to his own alcoholism. He gives the character a lot of development as he has great moments in his scenes with Johansson and Travolta but is really the eye of what is going on since he now has a chance for hope while falling for the strong-minded Pursy. Macht shines in the entire film from start to finish.

John Travolta though doesn't fare as well though he manages to convey some of his charm and wit into some great scenes but it comes to some serious drama, he doesn't nail that portion of the film. While the quoting of literature text might be fun, it gets annoying by the end of the film and Travolta then tries to channel Marlon Brando (not just in the look) only to almost parodying himself. There's some great moments in what Travolta does but his performance also shows the failed potential of him becoming a really, serious actor. Plus, the moments when he's singing and dancing from a cynical point of view might annoy people but for this film, it was kind of necessary though he didn't need to overdo it. If someone like a Tommy Lee Jones or Dennis Hopper did the role, they probably would get their hands a bit dirtier and be a bit more serious about the character.

Then there's Scarlett Johansson who is really the film's heart and soul in one of her most amazing and minimalist performances to date. While it's nowhere near her brilliant work in her 2003 landmark work for Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring, her performance shows why she's is among one of the most gifted actresses of her generation. Underneath her alluring beauty is a young woman who knows what to do and what not to do. In scenes where she is forced to stand her ground, Johansson brings an intensity that many method actors would be proud of while bringing a sense of guilt and torment in scenes involving her mother as she restrains herself.

Johansson doesn't bring fear when it comes to her own insecurities but when the film progresses to a very emotional moment, Johansson restrains herself to the point that she's trying to hold herself. A lesser actress would be a bit angrier to the point of a river of tears but Johansson doesn't, even with a passable Southern accent. It's clearly one of the more overlooked performances of 2004 as she along with such peers as Natalie Portman, Evan Rachel Wood, Jena Malone, and Zooey Deschanel continue to push the boundaries of contemporary acting.

From the Region 1 DVD release with its Anamorphic widescreen format, the DVD contains the usual tidbits in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound plus subtitles in Spanish, French, and Portugese along with audio dubbing in French and Portugese. The special features in the DVD includes a selection of previews for small-indie films like Imaginary Heroes, William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and Manny & Lo (that starred a 10-year old Scarlett Johansson) but also some awful trailers for films like D.E.B.S. and another Wild Things sequel. The feature-length commentary by Director/Screenwriter Shainee Gabel and cinematographer Elliot Davis does bring in some fine technical pointers and praise for the performance, notably Johansson but often lags due to their comments on the locations and scenery of New Orleans that just is a bore to listen to.

Along with the trailer for A Love Song for Bobby Long trailer, the DVD features includes a 30-minute behind the scenes feature with interviews with the cast and crew. Gabel says, the reason she did the film was she wanted to tell a story of the South and she chose Scarlett Johansson for the part of Pursy because of her natural acting ability and Johansson read the script when she was 15 as she and her mother Melanie Johansson (who is a co-producer of the film) took years for the film to get into development.

The behind the scenes feature is fine except for the fact when John Travolta compares Gabel to Quentin Tarantino in terms of how the film is. Another feature in the DVD is 10 minutes worth of eight deleted/extended scenes that were obviously cut for length reasons. While extended in the film are scenes of Lawson trying to sober up, Pursy and Bobby returning home from a Christmas dinner, and Bobby in the hospital. One scene that should've been cut and for very good reason is a lame break up scene in the rain between Lawson and Georgianna. There's three other scenes with Johansson that really shines, two involving herself on a date with a guy named Sean (Warren Blosjo) that involves a semi-sex scene in a car. Another is a post-confrontation scene with Lawson after learning the secrets in which Johansson shows her ability as a minimalist actress.

While A Love Song for Bobby Long isn't a great drama, it is a good effort from Shainee Gabel led by a powerful, engaging performance from Scarlett Johansson. Along with great supporting work from Gabriel Macht and Dane Rhodes, it is a film that Johansson fans will love. Travolta fans though will be disappointed in his approach to the film despite a few stellar moments. In the end, the film really belongs to Johansson, who is really the heart and soul of the film as she gives one of her finest performances to date. While the work of David Gordon Green might seem to be a better choice in contemporary Southern dramas, A Love Song for Bobby Long is still a worthy choice to watch for a good look of the South.

Scarlett Johansson Films Reviews (the ones in bold are the essential):

Just Cause (1995):

http://www.epinions.com/content_154476383876

Manny & Lo (1996):

http://www.epinions.com/content_109962628740

Fall (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_162041466500

Home Alone 3 (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_132750216836

The Horse Whisperer (1998):

http://www.epinions.com/content_120434691716

Ghost World (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_108939415172

An American Rhapsody (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112778645124

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112639446660

Eight Legged Freaks (2002):

http://www.epinions.com/content_126273883780

Lost in Translation (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_113414475396

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_120964615812

The Perfect Score (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_128189369988

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_162592034436

In Good Company (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_169722678916



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age