Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a country music "star" whose fame has dimmed down to almost nothing.He's almost always drunk; his "tour" involves him driving himself and his guitar from one really small, cheap venue to another and linking up with a local band who accompany him using cheat sheets.He is disheveled (frankly, he looks like Kris Kristofferson), and even when he showers, he looks like he's in need of a cleaning and a comb.He's had hit songs, and his aging fans (the few who remember him) are enthusiastic about seeing him, and when he can avoid throwing up from drinking, he can still put on a charming concert and usually take some woman back with him to his hotel for some company.He has hit, quite frankly, just slightly above rock bottom.Yet one day, he grants an interview to a Santa Fe journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and sparks of mutual interest fly between the two almost immediately.The movie then embarks on a somewhat predictable "journey of redemption"...but it has enough things going for it to make this film rise well above the clichés that fill the two paragraphs I've just written.
Bad Blake is hardly a character we've never seen before.But as played by Jeff Bridges, we discover something new about him at every turn.He charms us, and actually makes it easy to see why a much younger woman like Gyllenhaal might find a place in her heart for him.His eagerness to be a positive force in the life of this single mother is an almost palpable thing...and we also get to watch as he derails his own efforts.To say that Bridges gives a "lived in" performance doesn't begin to scratch the surface.Bridges is one of those great actors who has no vanity and no problem disappearing into his roles.It helps that he sings the terrific songs that were written for him, so that we get a genuine sense of Blake as a performer.We are able to see not only the worthwhile man behind the booze and dirty clothes, but the charismatic star that once was there and hasn't completely died yet.Bridges gives, simply, the best male performance of 2009.
While Bridges is clearly the single most important reason the film rises above cliché, he is certainly helped by a very nice script, with lots of wry humor and tenderness and anger and anguish.It navigates through the clichés, not by ignoring them, but my giving them enough specificity that they no longer feel unoriginal.
The movie was filmed in New Mexico (my state...as anyone who reads my reviews knows) and the landscape perfectly compliments the tone of the movie.If it had been set in a lusher climate, something would have been lost.There is both the dryness and harshness of the landscape AND the welcome bursts of color...just like Blake has a harshness that is frequently belied by bursts of warmth and feeling.
The movie features fine acting throughout.Gyllenhaal is very good (although I scratch my head a bit over her Oscar nomination...I didn't think she was THAT good), Robert Duval is funny and wise in his small role, and even Colin Farrell shows up as a big country star with a complicated history with Blake.Farrell is not entirely convincing as a country singer...but he pulls of the "star" attitude with ease.I appreciate that he was willing to take this tiny role...in the last couple of years, he has gotten serious about acting again, and has done much to redeem himself in my mind (his work in IN BRUGES was great).
This is a feel good movie that isn't afraid to make us feel a little bad from time to time.But Jeff Bridges makes for the best of guides through this little, heartfelt film...and I highly recommend it for adults.Entertaining, fun, moving and well-crafted.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Crazy Heart (2009)
Product Description:
A FADED COUNTRY MUSIC MUSICIAN IS FORCED TO REASSESS HIS DYSFUNCTIONAL LIFE DURING A DOOMED ROMANCE THAT ALSO INSPIRES HIM.
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