Stream it now Crazy Heart 2009

 

great movie....

Where did all those songs come from? "Life, unfortunately." Bad Blake replies. And after watching Crazy Heart, the story of broken down, has-been country music singer Bad Blake, you believe that to be true. Jeff Bridges is Bad Blake. He morphs into the body of the honky tonk crooner. He physically appears to have been through the ups and downs of the character's life. His beard is rough, he can barely keep his blue jeans buttoned, and he sings Bad's songs as if he has lived through the stories himself. It is truly a remarkable portrayal of this outlaw country star that may remind some of Waylon Jennings.

Bridges performance is obviously the catalyst of what makes this great movie go, but there is so much more. The soundtrack is superb. It is produced by 10 time Grammy winning T-Bone Burnett. He and Stephen Bruton co wrote and produced most of the original music for the film. Also, one of my personal favorites, Ryan Bingham, teams with Burnett on the Crazy Heart theme "The Weary Kind" which has already taken home the golden globe. Bingham even shows up with a small acting part in the movie.

We follow Bad Blake on the road traveling from one hole in the wall to the next to try and revive his career that hard living has flushed down the toilet. Along the way he is inspired by a reporter Jean (Gyllenhaal). His many struggles and failings have a lot to do with his alcoholism and this is one of the better real portrayals of the disease I've seen. I don't want to give too much away about Bad's journey across the west to try and once again find fame, fortune, and maybe even personal redemption, because there are a few wrong turns and twists that are a little unexpected. There are a lot of touching moments, and how Bad ends up is probably as real of an ending as you could give.

First time writer/director Scott Cooper has done such a good job with the little subtleties in this film. He seems to have a real knack of just how to get the peak performance out of each one of his actors. (Probably a lot of that has to do with the fact that Cooper is an actor himself) Each performance is beautifully acted across the board. Whether its Maggie Gyllenhaal's reporter Jean, Colin Farrell's Tommy Sweet, or Bad Blake's good ol' boy buddy Wayne played by Robert Duvall, they are all masters of their domain, and own every second of screen time.

Jeff Bridges has already been talked about as the favorite to win the Best Actor Oscar this year, and deservedly so. He has a lifetime of great performances, and this may very well be his crowning achievement. I hope the film is recognized at the Oscars as well, because Crazy Heart is one of the best films of the last few years.


* Reviewed 2/1/2010






-JB

Jeff Bridges gives the performance of his career (no its not the Dude) in this heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting movie of redemption. The whole talented-musician-gone-down story has been told several times before but Jeff Bridges manages to bring something new to the table. Another notable performance can be seen from Maggie Gylenhall, who absolutely deserves the nominations.

Formula script saved by the performances. Jeff Bridges was born to play this role. Colin Farrell is enormously charming--almost at the level of Robert Downey Jr. Maggie Gyllenhall always has you on her side. If only the entirely predictable writing was as good as the soundtrack.

I expected far more from this movie then what it delivered. Seeing Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal makeout and have sex was extremely awkward and completely unrealistic. No girl her age would make out with a worn out and liquored up country singer like Jeff Bridges. Another aspect that was completely unrealistic was Colin Farrell being casted as a country singer. He had a lackluster performance in this movie when you actually saw him. I think this movie is far, far overrated.

Crazy Heart

As the credits were rolling, in the complex where I watched this film, nobody moved or said anything for a good two to three minutes.
I think this represented the sense that we, the audience, had been on a long and sometimes painful journey and in a way, didn't want it to end.
I can't think of another film where the action is immediate. No title, no credits, no preamble; we are thrust in to the world of Bad Blake, an ageing (57 year old) country and western singer touring across the States in his battered, though reliable, station wagon.
Blake is a straight talking, gritty character; shackled to the past through his music.
In order to manage his complicated and eventful life (failed marriages -- an unseen son -- an unresolved dispute with fellow county singer, Tommy Sweet) Bad uses alcohol and chain smoking to get him through the rounds of small bar / bowling alley concerts, where his admiring, and occasionally seductive audiences, crave for a lost past through 'real' country music.
In a bar in Sante Fe, Bad meets up with journalist Jean Craddock who, through her gentle and uncomplicated style, manages to get under Bad's persona. They fall in love but Bad's alcoholism becomes his undoing as he loses Jean's son in a shopping mall; having promised never to drink in front of the young boy.
Bad's alcoholism brings him to a point of realisation; give up or die. He gives up, promoting a period of creativity in his music.

There are no happy endings, no sensationalism in this film. If anything, Bad's life is understated which, symbolises the generation he represents
Whilst a film about one man's life it is also provides an insight into small town America -- the contrast between the 'real' people and the changing 'manufactured' world of Tommy Sweet.

Jeff Bridges performance is phenomenal.

I do not think I will watch it again though.

Scott Cooper makes his directorial debut with Crazy Heart, a movie about a faded country music musician. If there was any justice in this world, Crazy Heart would be his last job involving the movie industry.

Not only does this movie bore the audience, but it pains the audience to the point where everybody in the audience would be willing to take part in a mass suicide.

When the casts consists of former stars such as Jeff Bridges and Robert Duvall along with the always inconsistent Maggie Gyllenhaal and Colin Farrell, you know the movie will be mediocre at best.

Where the movie really fails at besides the questionable acting would be the cliche ridden plot, which is simple at best. Characters merely show up to advance the plot and offer no depth. And what should have been the highlight of this movie, the music, is stale and poorly performed.

To put it lightly, I'd rather cut off my manhood and proceed to shove it down my throat until I begin choking and eventually die. At least then I wouldn't have to endure the pain of watching this movie again.

.....

Jeff Bridges did a great job acting, his Oscar was well deserved. The story had the same basic elements of Lost in Translation however, or I would have given it 90%. There is definitely chemistry between Maggie and Jeff but at times it felt a little forced. STILL it's a must see and a highlight of Jeff Bridges career.