The Thing Called Love

The Thing Called Love is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Samantha Mathis as Miranda Presley, a young musician who tries to make it big in Nashville. River Phoenix, Dermot Mulroney and Sandra Bullock also star. While the film involves a love triangle and various complications in Miranda's route to success, it provides a sweetened glimpse at the lives of aspiring songwriters in Nashville. Its tagline is: "Stand by your dream".

The Thing Called Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeter Bogdanovich
Produced byJohn Davis
Written byCarol Heikkinen
Starring
Music byG. Marq Roswell
CinematographyPeter James
Edited byTerry Stokes
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • August 27, 1993 (1993-08-27)
Running time
116 minutes
120 minutes (director's cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$14 million
Box office$1 million[1] (US)

The film was Phoenix's final complete screen performance before his death. Bogdanovich called the movie "a little picture with a slightly meandering French quality."[2]

A "making of" documentary is available on the film's DVD release, titled The Thing Called Love: A Look Back.[3]

Plot

Miranda Presley is an aspiring singer/songwriter from New York City who loves country music and decides to take her chances in Nashville, where she hopes to become a star. After arriving in Music City after a long bus ride, Miranda makes her way to the Bluebird Cafe, a local watering hole with a reputation as a showcase for new talent. The bar's owner, Lucy, takes a shine to the plucky newcomer and gives her a job as a waitress.

Before long, Miranda has gotten to know a number of other Nashville transplants who are looking to land a gig or sell a song, including sweet and open-hearted Kyle Davidson, moody but talented James Wright, and spunky Linda Lue Linden. As the four friends struggle to find their place in the competitive Nashville music scene, both Kyle and James display a romantic interest in Miranda, but she is drawn to James in spite of his moody temperament. Miranda pursues James, and they end up getting married, but they soon realize marriage takes work. James leaves Miranda behind to make his album, what he always wanted to do, but realizes he left his heart with her. He comes back to the Bluebird Cafe but discovers that Miranda has left town. Miranda returns and sings a new song, before tentatively reuniting with James. Kyle joins them as Linda Lue leaves for New York, and the remaining three discuss writing a song together.

Cast

Production

The film was to have been directed by Brian Gibson but in September 1992 he left the project to make What's Love Got to Do With It? and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich.[4]

Bogdanovich says Phoenix approached Paramount to appear in the film. "He was brilliant to work with," said the director. "There were maybe two days during the 60-day shoot that I felt he wasn't as together as he was on other days. But one day, it was freezing cold and the other day, he took some kind of cold medicine that didn't agree with him. That was what I was told. But all the rest of the time, he was great... He was concerned with more than his own role. He was concerned with the overall picture, with the other actors and characters... He would have made a very good director.""[5]

The film focuses on the songwriters rather than the performers. "It's a different kind of crowd," said Bogdanovich. "More cerebral, less about the glitz."[6]

The film features cameos from Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis and Kevin Welch. River Phoenix wrote two songs including "Lone Star State of Mine"; Dermot Mulroney wrote one, and Sandra Bullock wrote lyrics for the song she performed. Bogdanovich admitted[7] the film had some similarities to Fame and Flashdance movies that became "kind of a genre of its own... We tried to play by the rules of that. {But} we also tried to play against that -- we tried to make it different from that kind of movie. We tried to walk a sometimes difficult tightrope."[6]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on reviews from 21 critics.[8]

Todd McCarthy of Variety magazine wrote: "Perhaps there's not much new to say about the dues and disappointments involved in breaking into the country music scene, but the scenes are fresh and the emotions real in Peter Bogdanovich's tune-laden, mixed-mood drama."[9]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 1 out of 4 and wrote: "Perhaps no one could have saved Phoenix, who was not lucky enough to find a higher bottom than death. But this performance in this movie should have been seen by someone as a cry for help."[10]

Box Office

The film debuted in several Southern markets. It was expected to open wider in autumn but Paramount decided against this following the death of River Phoenix. The movie ultimately ranked among the least profitable films of 1993. "Paramount did do some releases in Seattle and a few other places," said Bogdanovich in 1994. "But I think they were afraid of being accused of exploiting River's death. There was a kind of general worry about that. I guess that is the thinking that prevailed. It's pretty disappointing, but you know, I've learned to go on."[5]

The director felt the death of Phoenix affected watching the movie. "It was a totally different movie before. It had a hopeful quality and now it doesn't. The ending is ambiguous, but because River died, it becomes very sad. The last thing you're left with is that he is dead, even though the character is alive ... (The movie) was supposed to be bittersweet, but it turned out being more bitter than sweet."[5]

References
  1. "The Thing Called Love (1993)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. 'Pardon my dust' says hopeful director: [SU2 Edition] Glenn Lovell SPECIAL TO THE STAR. Toronto Star; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]21 Mar 1993: D4.
  3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815481/
  4. Reiner to spoof erotic thrillers: [City Edition] Carr, Jay. Boston Globe 13 Sep 1992: 96.
  5. ANOTHER BOGDANOVICH FILM IS HEADED FOR CULT STATUS: [THIRD Edition] Longsdorf, Amy. Morning Call; Allentown, Pa. [Allentown, Pa]13 Feb 1994: F01.
  6. BOGDANOVICH GETS INTO A COUNTRY Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune 27 Aug 1993: F1.
  7. "She's So Hollywood--and Proud of It : Movies: 'Demolition Man's' Sandra Bullock says she's as 'shallow as anybody,' but don't let her wackiness fool you. There's a method to her madness". Los Angeles Times. 7 December 1993. “I told them if they wanted a bad song, they could pay me and I’d write them a terrible song.”
  8. "The Thing Called Love (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  9. McCarthy, Todd (27 August 1993). "The Thing Called Love". Variety.
  10. Ebert, Roger (January 21, 1994). "The Thing Called Love movie review (1994)". Chicago Sun-Times.
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