Crazy Heart (2009)

Memorable, crazy movie

Let's be realistic.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Scott Cooper directs a soothing masterpiece with the musically golden Crazy Heart. A broken shell of a man, broke, burnt out from years on the road of hard living Bad Blake (Bridges) tries to conquer the lost soul of his and climb his way back. He is rough around the edges but charismatic with the southern country charm. He meets a reporter Jean (Gyllenhaal), who he falls in love with and befriends her 4 yr old son Buddy. During a visit Blake watches Buddy for Jean and takes him out for the day as he is drinking, then loses the kid which causes a major rip in the relationship. Blake's underling who is much bigger now in stardom Tommy (Farrell) wants to repay the struggling musician, but stubborn is as stubborn does.A tremendous back set of a music score where Bridges and Farrell BOTH do their own singing which is actually very, very good. The drive and vision to produce these two stars in such magic is far ever seen. Bridges is fantastic, reminiscent of his portrayal in True Grit and his genius as THE DUDE. Gyllenhaal is amazing and not in the film nearly enough, a cameo with Robert Duvall as a bartender/friend who help Bad back to health is well perceived. A truly well written film. You will NOT be disappointed and will feel a sense of compassion and morality as you watch the transition of the characters. A stellar film with an 8/10 for me.

Those who feverishly follow live music performances may relate more closely to this film than most. But I doubt that even country music fans would get much out of if by way of musical enjoyment. Jeff Bridges does play and sing, as do Colin Farrell and some others, but most of the music is in short segments. And those, often with interruptions or breaks of some sort. Mostly this is a movie about a musician years past his prime, who makes his living playing to the middle-aged folks who liked his music in the past. He does this in restaurants, bowling alleys, and bars. Part of his being beyond his prime is his lifestyle. Bridges plays Bad Blake, an alcoholic who writes and sings "authentic" country western tunes. But, he hasn't done anything new in years. Now he goes from town to town across the Western U.S., playing for a living. He stays in sleazy or rundown motels. The rest of his lifestyle includes bedding down whatever camp follower presents herself for the night. A romance enters his life in a much younger woman who has a four-year-old son. It's as though this one particular acquaintance on the road clicks where none before have. That's a little hard to believe. But the dysfunction of Blake's person and lifestyle finally wake up Jean (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), who calls it quits. This apparently has been different enough from Blake's usual encounters that it leads him to despair and he finally asks for help to battle his alcoholism. While not the way Blake wants it, the film has a sort of hopeful and appropriate ending. The film is based on a 1987 novel of the same title, by Thomas Cobb. That story was inspired by honky-tonk country-Western musician Hank Thompson (1925-2007). Bridges won the Academy Award for best actor for his role. This isn't the type of film that offers musical entertainment, as do most musicals. It's not fun picture to watch, but some viewers may appreciate it for the drama and Blake's rehab.

Crazy HeartThe bonding projected since the beginning, of each individual character with the protagonist is so pure and innocence that it doesn't fit into the "social" boundary which helps this feature fly onto new and fearless territories. Scoot Cooper's smart adaptation from Thomas Cobb's novel is the core strength of this feature where even Scott's brilliant execution skills fail to surpass the way it conveys the message comfortably to the audience. Addition to that, the performance is the highlight of this feature that is outdrawn beautifully by Jeff Bridges; as the protagonist, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a supporter. Crazy Heart never had something fresh or intriguing concept in its first place to bedazzle the audience but its simplicity and details towards the mannerism of the characters, is what something one can explore.

This film is genuinely poor. Characterisation ranges from cliched to nonexistent. Genuinely.Leading character is the architypal broken down drunk who chain smokes and generally wastes his talents.Romantic lead is inexplicably drawn to said broken down drunk. No back history or logic offered there.Lead has long standing rivalry with another younger more commercially successful performer. Yawn. Too bored to continue. It has no depth. No weight of interest. It operates within a genre without doing anything new or expanding that genre. It's not even derivative because nothing within this film is new. At all. Derivative at least suggests something is new.Jeff Bridges delivers a wildly over hyped performance that shouldn't ever win an Oscar. It is wrong that it won an Oscar. This film is up over seven stars. Want to see something similar but undoubtedly better? Walk the Line.