A Love Song for Bobby Long
Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 31
  3. Negative: 6 out of 31
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  1. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Macht is the best thing in A Love Song for Bobby Long, but his intelligent performance doesn't justify a tough, and very long, sit.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    Works hard to give quirk a bad name.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ed Park
    30
    At least Macht emerges relatively unscathed from the mess, content to brood and mutter self-loathing observations while Johansson and (most painfully) Travolta spoon their Southern accents out of a jar and spread it all over the humid scenery.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    Maybe they should have called A Love Song for Bobby Long something more appropriately descriptive, such as "When Actors Imitating Southern Characters Go Bad."
  5. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    30
    Traffics in nearly every trite cliche of the "colorful" South one can think of, from its pseudo-Gothic aesthetic to its overripe dialogue.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    10
    No movie that opens with the line "Time was never a friend to Bobby Long" could possibly be any good, and sure enough, A Love Song For Bobby Long lives down to its squibbed kickoff.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 26 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. RoseN.
    10
    Being from the South, the accents are actually pretty close. This film has been in my collection since he came out on DVD. A lost film about real character, not larger than life outrageous story-lines. Scarlett Johannsen and Gabriel Macht give the best performances in the most. Scarlett as a tough yet still young, impressionable teenage girl who is well beyond her years. Macht as a broken hopeless romantic who has some honor and a lot of guilt. The true beauty in this movie was the well-spoken real life conversation and the enchanting music. I give this movie a 10 because I have watched it at least 30 to 40 times and I fall in love with it all over again every time. Low-budget, but brilliant in its simplicity.… Full Review »
  2. NickN
    10
    Brilliant adaptation of Ronald Everett Capps "Off Magazine Street." This may not be for everyone, but this is one of the films I can't resist each time I see it playing on TV.… Full Review »
  3. LaurenceC.
    10
    My wife and I just caught up with it on cable and we loved it. Scarlett was magnicient. Travolta was good and Macht was terrific. Also Debbie Unger.
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