Best Actor Jeff Bridges stars as Bad Blake, a burned out country musician, in the moving drama Crazy Heart. Bridges is so good portraying Blake's struggle with alcoholism and his regrets about the son he abandoned that it hurts.
The singer’s gigs across the Southwest, including a bowling alley, reveal a barren landscape of disappointment, self-loathing and shame. He seems unable and unwilling to understand his bad luck. Blake sings from deep within his soul, but even loyal fans who remember him from years ago are unable to overlook his teetering mental and physical state.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, a great actor, was miscast here. The relationship between her character Jean Craddock, a Santa Fe writer, and Blake was just short of believable, perhaps because of Gyllenhaal’s girl-next-door personality. Blake’s efforts to atone for his sins by playing father to Jean’s cute 4-year-old son Buddy (well-played by Jack Nation), and Gyllenhaal’s willingness to leave him unattended with Blake, are achingly real.
Crazy Heart focuses mostly on the singer’s downward spiral, and would have benefited from an earlier emphasis on Blake’s transformation and songwriting. Similar films that develop the theme of stardom and addiction more effectively are The Wrestler and Walk the Line. All these films ask the question: Do life struggles deepen one’s creativity, and even make art possible?
The film is loosely based on the life of late Country Music Hall of Famer Hank Thompson, as portrayed in a novel by Thomas Cobb.
Producer and co-star Robert Duvall is earthy and brotherly as Blake's best friend Wayne. Colin Farrell deftly plays Tommy Sweet, Blake's former student who's now more popular than his teacher. The soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham includes Golden Globe Best Original Song winner The Weary Kind (sung by Bridges) and Crazy Heart (sung by Farrell). Yes, both actors can sing!
If you like Crazy Heart, you might enjoy: True Grit; Blue Valentine; Two Lovers; The Town.
Crazy Heart 2009 / R / 1 hr, 52 min
Cast Overview: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Tom Bower, James Keane, William Marquez, Ryan Bingham, Paul Herman, Rick Dial, Beth Grant
Director: Scott Cooper
Genres: Drama, Indie Drama, Romantic Drama, Music, Drama Based on the Book
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