A Love Song for Bobby Long

Show offs. This film was made specifically for showcasing talent. Not that it isn't a sweet tale -- girl, having lost her mother, comes home and finds it is a home after all. Filmed in New Orleans, it has a nostalgic feel completely unintended by the filmmakers. Doesn't do quite enough to exude the stickiness of a summer on the bayou (what, is Scarlett Johansson too cool to sweat?) though. Although it does plenty to make obvious the sticky situation of three people -- Johansson, Gabriel Macht, and John Travolta -- not quite sure they all want to be together in the same house. Each character gets his or her showy (see above) speech, and they all do a splendid job at that. Problem is, the film leaves us at the 10 minute-to-go mark with a hastily tacked-on ending. All is suddenly bright and sunshiny which is bad enough, but worst of all we have a dangling plot line. Now, I'm one who loves unresolved endings, but the attraction between two of the principal characters is touched on here and there and finally ignored. If it's clearly a big enough deal to include in the first place, why not give us a hint as to its resolution? Too touchy a subject? Worse, you could interpret the last scene multiple different ways in this regard. I guess I'll have to read the book to know what happened.

year: 2004
length: 119 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369672/combined