Thing Called Love [VHS]
by Peter Bogdanovich
![Thing Called Love [VHS]](/images/Thing-Called-Love-VHS-6302987865-L.jpg)
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Dermot Mulroney, K.T. Oslin, River Phoenix, Samantha Mathis, Sandra BullockDirector: Peter Bogdanovich
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 116 minutes
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Paramount
Studio: Paramount
VHS Movie Reviews of Thing Called Love [VHS]
Movie Review: You could have had me for a song
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is as old as the hills. Two men love one woman, like John Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, pilgrim. Only here in The Thing Called Love it's River Phoenix and Dermot Mulroney fighting over Samantha Mathis, and for comic relief, throw in some Sandra Bullock. Oh, yeah, all four have come to Nashville to make it in Country Music, where they meet at auditions for the Blue Bird Cafe. Not exactly the Ryman Auditorium, but a lot of Country Music stars got their start there.
Director Peter Bogdanovich is best known for The Last Picture Show, which was one of his early films. Years later he was quoted as saying, "Remember me? I used to be Peter Bogdanovich." The Last Picture Show could have been called The Last Truly Great Picture Show from Peter Bogdanovich. In 1998 the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress named The Last Picture Show to the National Film Registry, an honor awarded only to the most culturally significant films. He has had some spectacular failures and other modest success since then, but has done better as a film historian and writer than he has done as a director. One theory is that he doomed himself when he ditched his wife, set designer Polly Platt, for 19-year old model Cybill Shepherd, whom he met at The Last Picture Show. This theory credits Polly with being the controlling artistic consciousness of his best films, Paper Moon (1973) being the last one she worked on. He later starred Cybill in two of his biggest flops: Daisy Miller and At Long Last Love. A latter affair with 1980 Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten ended in her being tragically killed by her jealous manager/husband, a story told in the Bob Fosse film Star 80.
In spite of all this baggage, someone thought he would be great for The Thing Called Love. When he asked River Phoenix to do it, to his surprise, he wanted to do it. Maybe he was attracted to the musical aspect. It was not really a starring role, more of an ensemble piece with the main focus on the Miranda Presley character. Once River Phoenix was on board the project fell in place, and along with the other cast members, a lot of Country Music stars agreed to take part, in various cameos playing themselves.
River Phoenix played a very talented but edgy songwriter. He was on the verge of success, but whenever he got too close he'd find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. River, and the rest of the cast, either wrote or contributed to most all the songs used. One of the songs River wrote, Lone Star State of Mine, was very good, maybe a little too poetic and esoteric to actually be a hit song, but he showed promise. He grew up busking all over the US, and played in bands, and it showed. He was right at home on stage with a guitar. River Phoenix was kind of twitching and strange like his brother Joaquin on Letterman, but was he ever in character. When Bogdanovich met him, he thought he was this edgy guy, because he would really get into character and stay there like Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton, but then after the film wrapped he found that he wasn't that guy at all. He was Huckleberry Finn, a real amiable and likeable guy. Makes you wonder what would have happened if he hadn't ODed. He could have been astronomical.
Samantha Mathis was the lead, though she had to fight the course of a mighty river to stay there. Samantha played Miranda Presley, no relation. Presley was her middle name, given to her by a father who was a huge Elvis fan. Though Miranda was from New York City, Country music was in her blood. Samantha was so good in this movie. She sang country really well, and was always very authentic and believable. She did the singing, the song writing, and lest we forget, the acting. Of course the acting was the crux of the matter, but the singing and song writing also impressed me. Especially the singing.
On the other hand, not so great at singing was Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney). He was a Connecticut Yankee, and he didn't really fit in Nashville, but he tried harder. Mulroney is an accomplished cellist, and The Thing Called Loved allowed him to show off his cello chops. Though his character was not such a great singer, his character was a better writer, and when he has Miranda cut a demo of one of his songs, it sounds great. They concoct a crazy scheme to get Trisha Yearwood to hear it. It's so crazy it just might work. And work it does, when he hears it on the radio for the first time:
[Kyle runs into back of a guy's car and a crowd gathers]
Driver: Didn't you see the stop sign?
Kyle Davidson: That's my song!
Driver: Well, that's my car!
Kyle Davidson: That's my song playing on the radio!
Driver: You wrote that song?
Kyle Davidson: Yeah!
Bystander: You're a better songwriter than you are a driver.
Kyle Davidson: That's my song!
Bystander: That song's all right.
Kyle Davidson: Kinda makes ya wanna pat your foot, doesn't it?
Bystander: You shoulda patted the brake one time.
Kyle Davidson: That's my song!
Bystander: You got two hits in one day!
Sandra Bullock has long been an undervalued commodity, who is finally getting a little respect. I hear she rules in her latest, The Blind Side, and was also quite an effective comedienne in The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds. She was sublime in this movie as the kind of person Blanche Dubois was talking about when she said she'd always depended on the kindness of strangers. She was always helping other people achieve their dreams, but neglecting her own. Of the four hopefuls, she would be voted least likely to succeed in Nashville, but she did succeed in creating a very warm though quirky character called Linda Lue Linden.
The Thing Called Love cost 14 Million dollars, but it only made 1 million. It was the least financially successful film of 1993--a huge box office flop, but was it a bad movie?
NO!!!!!!!!!!
Bottom line is it was actually a very good movie about Nashville, songwriters, and it was River Phoenix's last role. I would have given it 5 stars, just to offset the bad box office and lack of acclaim, but let's be reasonable and give it 4 stars. But a very solid four stars. The title was kind of lackluster, and the marketing fell short, but if you would just watch the film, give it a chance, you'll love The Thing Called Love.
The Proposal (Single Disc Widescreen) (2009) Sandra Bullock was Margaret Tate
The Wedding Date (Widescreen Edition) (2005) Dermot Mulroney was Nick Mercer
Two Weeks Notice (2002) Sandra Bullock was Lucy Kelson
Living in Oblivion (1995) Dermot Mulroney was Wolf
How to Make an American Quilt (1995) Samantha Mathis was Young Sophia Darling Richards and Dermot Mulroney was Sam
Dogfight (1991) River Phoenix was Eddie Birdlace
My Own Private Idaho (1991) River Phoenix was Mike Waters
Running on Empty (1988) River Phoenix was Danny Pope / Michael Manfield
Paper Moon (1973) Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
The Last Picture Show (Definitive Director's Cut Special Edition) (1971) Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
----------------------
Linda Lue Linden: You Know Kyle Davidson, there's something you never knew about me.
Kyle Davidson: What's that?
Linda Lue Linden: [she kisses him] You could have had me for a song
=========================
Summary of Thing Called Love [VHS]
If there was a universal collective, albeit repressed, dream, it would probably be to become a successful singer. People would take that singing in the car, singing in the shower, and even singing in the rain, and have it be their life's love and work. The Thing Called Love uses this popular aspiration as its setting and examines the lives of four young people hoping to make it in the country music universe. At the center is earnest Miranda Presley--no relation--(Samantha Mathis), the pretty but untalented Linda Lue (Sandra Bullock), the intense and talented James (River Phoenix), and the sweet and prolific Kyle (Dermont Mulroney). Popular country stars make appearances: K.T. Oslin (as Lucy, the owner of the Bluebell, where open-mike auditions are held), Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Katy Moffatt, Jo-El Sonnier, Pam Tillis, Kevin Welch, and even Trisha Yearwood. The film's not merely focused on the rich musical milieu and its talented cast. It also carefully examines the dynamic between friends who are also competitors, as well as a realistic love triangle between the leads. The Thing Called Love is primarily known as one of River Phoenix's last performances, but even if curiosity alone brings audiences to the movie, they'll soon be drawn into the fresh tale of four young people pursuing their dreams. --N.F. MendozaDrama VHS Video
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