A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG

A Love Song for Bobby Long is a difficult recommendation because its artistry and its content pull in opposite directions. The film offers brilliant character studies, strong overt Christian content, and a redemptive, pro-family message. It finds dignity in people living in anger, alcoholism, betrayal, and abject disorder.

But the cost is high. The language is constant, including repeated use of the “f” word and an extended vulgar speech about a woman’s private parts. The sexual discussions are heavy, the alcoholism is severe, and the film wallows in sordidness that can be captivating and repulsive at the same time.

If you are a discerning adult who can engage those elements without harm to your conscience, the film has real meaning to offer. For family viewing, however, the practical answer is clear: this is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.

After her mother’s death, Pursey Will travels from Florida to New Orleans and arrives at her mother’s run-down home. There she finds Bobby Long, a sinful music professor, and Lawson Pines, his young student protégé, living in abject filth.

Bobby says the home was willed to all three of them. Pursey decides to stay, while Bobby tries to drive her away. In this forgotten neighborhood of jazz musicians and fallen professors, Pursey’s strength of character and common sense begin to change the lives around her.

Four stars means this is a highly accomplished film despite its serious flaws. After a shaky beginning with some showboating by John Travolta, the movie settles into brilliant character studies and a wonderful message.

The film is a prolonged country song with a Flannery O’Connor purgatory twist. Its characters are powerful, and its final redemptive movement gives the story weight. The vulgarity weakens what could have been an even more powerful film, but the overall achievement remains substantial.

The film is bracketed by Gospel songs and includes discussions of God, faith, being born again, and relationships with God. It recognizes that its characters are made in the image of God, and even Bobby acknowledges that God and he are friends. Bobby eventually finds redemption from alcoholism and anger, despite having abandoned God.

The film’s central spiritual weakness is its suggestion that “the shortest distance to heaven was through hell.” The review notes that the story would have been more meaningful if it had taught that the shortest distance to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Its Christian content is overt and its ending is redemptive, but its world remains foul-mouthed, alcoholic, sexually charged, anything-goes, and mixed with pagan elements.

The writer is clearly pro-Christian, yet the vulgar portrayal of human sinfulness sometimes feels like stooping to conquer. The film’s longing for redemption is real, but Scripture gives that longing a clearer answer: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

A Love Song for Bobby Long is a brilliant, redemptive character study surrounded by severe language, sexual discussion, alcoholism, and other mature content. Its Christian message is meaningful, even when its theology stops short of the gospel’s clearest answer. For discerning adults, it is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For others, choose from our family-friendly picks.