Your Movie Library
Cast
- River PhoenixJames Wright
- Samantha MathisMiranda Presley
- Dermot MulroneyKyle Davidson
- Sandra BullockLinda Lue Linden
- K.T. OslinLucy
- Anthony ClarkBilly
- Webb WilderNed
- Earl Poole BallFloyd
- Deborah AllenDeborah Allen
- Jimmie Dale GilmoreJimmie Dale Gilmore
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Tribune
The best things about The Thing Called Love are its cast, style and mood. It has a snap, pace and rhythm we don't ordinarily see in today's movies. The dialogue scenes have a headlong pace and crackling self-confidence reminiscent of Howard Hawks, and the three- and four-way love combats recall Ernst Lubitsch. - 70
Time Out
Phoenix is fine in an odd, transitional role, but Mathis (who looks more like his sister than his girlfriend) really steals the show with a bright, sassy performance. - 70
Variety
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. - 63
Slant Magazine
Such strained touches notwithstanding, The Thing Called Love charms and touches, not the least for revealing Bogdanovich as a rare filmmaker still interested in human behavior, keeping the action mostly in medium shots and extended takes to better catch the emotional nuances from character to character. - 60
The New York Times
Mildly engaging, formulaic. - 42
Entertainment Weekly
You sense River Phoenix would rather be elsewhere, and whether he’s responding to the movie or to something larger is not ours to say. But the feeling persists. It’s like watching a premature ghost. - 40
Empire
Thin and predictable, and a flop of awesome proportions in the US, this has occasional bursts of freshness, but mostly leaves you with the nagging impression that Mathis ended up with the wrong guy. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
Despite her underwritten character, Mathis easily takes top acting honors with equal parts toughness and tenderness.
