The Thing Called Love

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, The Thing Called Love follows aspiring singer/songwriter Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis) as she arrives in Nashville hoping to make it big – with the narrative detailing her ongoing efforts as well as her friendships/relationships with two vastly different men (River Phoenix’s James and Dermot Mulroney’s Kyle). It’s familiar subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to watchable, affable effect by Bogdanovich, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Carol Heikkinen, delivers a perpetually entertaining drama that benefits from its irresistible premise and raft of above-average performances – with, in terms of the latter, the picture benefiting substantially from the magnetic and thoroughly charismatic work of its three stars. (And this is to say nothing of Sandra Bullock’s scene-stealing turn as a fellow would-be musician.) And while the love triangle that inevitably forms between Mathis, Phoenix, and Mulroney’s respective characters is perhaps not as engrossing as intended, The Thing Called Love, which also features an impressive assortment of legitimately solid country songs, generally (and for the most part) comes off as a stirring endeavor that fares best when focused on its protagonists’ eye-opening efforts at establishing themselves.

*** out of ****