The Thing Called Love

REVIEW
Mathis stars as an East Coast gal who travels to Nashville determined to become a country music star. Upon her arrival, she immediately, and literally, bumps into a brooding, bad-boy musician (Phoenix). A love-hate relationship ensues. Also onto the scene ambles Mulroney, a displaced Connecticut cowboy, and Bullock as a new kind of Southern belle. Though The Thing Called Love seems to have lost something in the editing process, its odd country-grunge quality, the interplay between the young actors and the fun they have with the music, saves this film from being a hackneyed, hayseed version of A Star Is Born.