A Love Song for Bobby Long

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A Love Song for Bobby Long

R

2004

1h 59m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

44%

Tomatometer

98 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Bobby Long (John Travolta), a former professor turned full-time drunkard, and Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), Long's former teaching assistant, spend their days drinking and swapping literary quotations in a New Orleans house owned by a deceased lounge singer. When the singer's daughter, Pursy (Scarlett Johansson), shows up to reclaim her mother's property, Bobby and Lawson try to grift their way into keeping the home while attempting to convince the high-school dropout to pursue an education.

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Critics Consensus

A Love Song for Bobby Long gets by for a few bars on the strength of its core cast, but the story's preponderance of kooky clichés falls flat.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

12/21/2010

2/5

Not for kids, and not worth it for adults.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

05/03/2005

B

A Love Song for Bobby Long's trio of lead performances are surprisingly believable.

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Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

01/28/2005

Traffics in nearly every trite cliche of the 'colorful' South one can think of.

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Shirley Sealy

Film Journal International

03/01/2007

The film's liabilities outweigh its assets.

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Film Threat

12/06/2005

4/5

Pablo Villaça

Cinema em Cena

03/28/2005

2/5

Mais um daqueles independentes norte-americanos cuja presuno de soar profundo logo revela sua verdadeira inteno: emocionar atravs do melodrama.

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Kathy V.

@RT64332554 May 23

A hidden gem with John Travolta.

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Daniel M

@MazzaQuePasa Dec 9

This is definitely a hidden gem of a movie that I never knew existed. The story was amazing with characters that kept me attached to the story in a very emotional way. Travolta and Scarlett were great together, really well told story.

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M S

@RT42918521 08/18/2025

This is a beautiful movie- from the score to the literary references to the scenery- gorgeous. The story is as sentimental as it is unsparing of its character’s flaws..

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Cathy S

@RT99565695 07/06/2024

Touching and beautiful, Another gold for John who is very underrated as an actor...

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G. W

@RT56015321 06/19/2023

Couldn't get past the horrible fake accents and the overall characters made to be a mere caricature of real people. The story might be brilliant, but the terrible acting is just too hard to swallow.

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razvan p

@n1mr0d 09/04/2022

well shot , well acted.. even if the story is meh

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Shainee Gabel

Director

John Travolta

Bobby Long

Scarlett Johansson

Pursy Will

Gabriel Macht

Lawson Pines

Deborah Kara Unger

Georgianna

Dane Rhodes

Cecil

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Synopsis

Bobby Long (John Travolta), a former professor turned full-time drunkard, and Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), Long's former teaching assistant, spend their days drinking and swapping literary quotations in a New Orleans house owned by a deceased lounge singer. When the singer's daughter, Pursy (Scarlett Johansson), shows up to reclaim her mother's property, Bobby and Lawson try to grift their way into keeping the home while attempting to convince the high-school dropout to pursue an education.

Director: Shainee Gabel
Producer: Shainee Gabel, David Lancaster, Paul Miller, Bob Yari
Screenwriter: Shainee Gabel
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: E1 Entertainment, Stratus Films, Emmett/Furla Films, El Camino Pictures
Rating: R (Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 29, 2004, Original
Release Date (DVD): Apr 19, 2005
Box Office (Gross USA): $159.2K
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Surround

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