a love song for staying small

A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
5 Stars
Starring John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson

This is a small film, about normal people living a more or less normal life. I don't mean to imply that the characters are well-adjusted model citizens, or even particularly realistic. I mean there is no hook, no high concept — writer-director Shainee Gabel trusts that the drama of human relationships alone is enough to move audiences.

The rather mundane plot has little to do with the greatness of this movie. In that, it shares something with Paris, Texas, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and You Can Count On Me. More importantly, these movies share a heartwarming, but not overly sentimental, view of that neglected portion of American society filled with broken families, lost dreams, and the hope for salvation. In putting sympathetic but powerful characters in a quiet setting, these filmmakers have the ability to lead us through the backroads, revealing, by glimpses, a true portrait of, if not America itself, then the American Dream.

The small films are more instructive than the self-important biopics, historical epics, and social-controversy film that make all the lists, precisely because they sneak in under our radar. Bobby Long is neither openly artistic nor pedagogical; it is not breathtaking, eye-opening, nor is it even particularly memorable. In short, it's no classic. But it's as good as one.