Starring: Samantha Mathis, River Phoenix, Dermot Mulroney, Sandra Bullock, K.T. Oslin
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Producer: John Davis
Screenplay: Carol Heikkinen
Cinematography: Peter James
Music: various
Released by Paramount Pictures
I believe there's a definite relationship between appreciating country music and enjoying this movie. The Thing Called Love is steeped in the traditional cliches of that musical format. From the background songs to the manner in which the plot unfolds, the country influence is unmistakable. The down side to this, of course, is that those who don't like country music are likely to find themselves less-than-engrossed by the lives of the four main characters.
Music isn't The Thing Called Love's only inspiration. There are nods here and there to almost every great cinematic love triangle, the most obvious of which is from John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (with John Wayne and James Stewart vying for Vera Miles' attention). The film goes out of its way to make that particular reference explicit.
Director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Noises Off) is an accomplished film maker who is able to imbue this familiar and potentially-stale material with a little freshness. There are numerous areas where The Thing Called Love falls short, but the movie contains an appealing cast and a story that, while not groundbreaking, is sufficiently interesting to capture the average viewer's attention.
The most obvious missing ingredient is passion. Through exposition, we learn how fervent these characters are about their music and, at times, each other. However, although this is shown, it's never something we feel. Too often, Bogdanovich takes an almost-clinical view of these people. Understanding them is easy; empathizing with them is a lot harder, even for those of us who recognize a portion of ourselves on screen.
The story line is simple enough: four young musicians gather at a bar in Nashville hoping to get an opportunity to perform. Lucy (K.T. Oslin), who runs the auditions, is very selective, and of the quartet -- Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathison), James Wright (River Phoenix), Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney), and Linda Lue Linden (Sandra Bullock) -- only James is chosen. His career is suddenly on the fast track.
A romantic triangle develops, with Kyle, Miranda, and James as the legs. While there are sparks between the latter two, James is unwilling to commit, wavering between craving intimacy with Miranda and ignoring her presence. Kyle's situation is more in line with the classic tragedy of unrequited love. Miranda views him as a friend, but his ardent and hopeless pursuit persists nonetheless.
The Thing Called Love is most impressive in the way it presents the so-called "little things." Small occurrences, handled with great care, become more memorable than larger, pivotal events. Perhaps the most poignant of these has Miranda gazing out a bus window to see the lyrics from one of her songs posted on a local hotel's advertising sign.
Like almost everything else in the movie, the acting is half-and-half. Samantha Mathis is believable as the headstrong, willful Miranda, and Dermot Mulroney portrays an entirely sympathetic Kyle. Sandra Bullock, however, appears completely out-of-place: a California girl saddled with a Southern accent. River Phoenix's underplayed James shows little sign of life, passion, or intensity.
For a movie intended to explore the conflicts and difficulties inherent in any kind of love (be it humans for each other or for their music), The Thing Called Love is largely unsuccessful. More than anything else, it ultimately appears to be little more than a predictable melodrama. Country fans will probably find in this motion picture an appropriate expression of their music. Everyone else is likely to view The Thing Called Love with about as much enthusiasm as they would reserve for the latest Randy Travis release.
© 1994 James Berardinelli