CRAZY HEART

“CRAZY HEART” (Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhall, Robert Duvall & Colin Farrell)

I went into this film thinking I wouldn’t like it – I don’t like country music & it looked like a ‘Tender Mercies’ retread - Hell, they even added Robert Duvall to the cast to make it a dead giveaway!
But Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake is a memorable character due to one reason – Jeff Bridges gives a flawless performance, the most believable of his career.
To run down a quick bio of Bad, you’d think he was a character no one would want to be around – He chain smokes(Uses the last cigarette to light the next) He’s an alcoholic (Check out that smile on his face in the first scene when the liquor store clerk says, “It’ll be on honor for me to buy Bad Blake a drink” as he sticks the bottle of whiskey into the bag & hands it to the ‘has-been’ country/western singer) He’s also immature, self centered, & a thoughtless womanizer – what’s not to love?
What won me over was his sarcastic sense of humor – As Bad travels from one southern hick town to the next playing gigs in honky tonk bars & bowling alleys, he’s usually under-whelmed when his back up band for the evening introduces themselves. “When should we start rehearsing?” One young local musician asks in preparation for the bowling ally ‘concert’ – “As soon as you can and as often as you can,” ‘wise’ old Bad imparts before closing the door of his motel room on the boys. When his agent calls & tells him he arranged for Bad to open a concert for Tommy Sweet, the singer that Blake taught how to play ‘country’, Bad squeals like a schoolgirl, “Do I get to go backstage & meet Tommy?”
Bridges doesn’t do anything spectacular in ‘Crazy Heart’ other than ‘become’ Otis “Bad” Blake & I was thoroughly impressed with his portrayal.
I thought I wouldn’t find anything to like about the film & it turned out there wasn’t much that I DIDN’T like. Nice little subtle touches like Bad fishing his sunglasses out of the garbage can he just vomited into; trying to lock the door of his room with the chain lock & finding nothing to connect it to, yet still giving the mechanism a couple of strokes as though there was something there. Arguing with ‘Bear’, the sound tech during his rehearsal before the big show opening for Tommy. & that ever-present smart-ass tone Bridges adds – one line in particular I liked was his delivery of, “Ain’t rememberin’ wonderful?” when Tommy stops by to reminisce. Another line involving his agent’s sister will make you laugh out loud.
Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jane, a ‘wanna-be’ reporter who interviews the one-time country star and winds up falling in love with him. Robert Duvall is Bad’s closest friend – a bar owner who can’t remember if his one employee is named Juan or Jesus... & the biggest shocker of all came with the casting of Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet, a big time country/western star – Expecting Farrell to fail miserably, I had to give him even more credit when it was discovered that he not only pulled off a believable southern ‘twang’ but also did his own singing (As did Bridges, of course)
That’s another thing – either I’m getting older, or country music is finally maturing because I kind of liked most of the songs in Bad’s repertoire.
The March/December romance between Bad & Jane doesn’t come across as too creepy due to the actors involved – they just made you believe it.
If I had one complaint it would have to be when Bad loses Jane’s 4 year old son, Buddy in a mall. Bad has one drink & the kid disappears – they should have made him have another drink before losing the kid because it happens too quickly – Buddy disappears so fast even a prudent person would have lost him.
But that’s so minor, it doesn’t spoil this very fine film at all – though the most impressive thing about it is Bridges – I’d have to call him the frontrunner for Best Actor after viewing this performance. Most impressive indeed.