Directed by: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Paul Herman
One of the things so refreshing about Crazy Heart is how we think we know where it is going and it goes the opposite way. A more hopeful and happier way for Bad Blake (Bridges), a broken down, chain smoking, whiskey guzzling, has-been country singer who used to be a big name, but now plays small bars and bowling alleys. Bad travels on the road in his trusty 1978 pickup, and despite his failing health and drunkenness, he manages to appear at and finish his shows, which isn't always easy when you are throwing up in between songs.
Bad is ornery, and sees no reason to change his ways, or more likely it would take simply too much effort to do so. He resists some potentially lucrative openings for superstar Tommy Sweet (Farrell), who is Bad's protégé, which Tommy has never forgotten. A lesser movie would have Tommy be an insufferable jerk to his former mentor, but Tommy acts almost deferentially to the man he admires so much. Tommy loves Bad and remains loyal to him, and Bad loves him too if he would only stop being so stubborn about admitting it.
The impetus for Bad's changes are Jean (Gyllenhaal), a Santa Fe reporter who interviews him for a local paper and soon becomes his lover, and Jean's son Buddy, who Bad adores. We see Bad's better nature when he is around them both, but the whiskey isn't far from Bad and in one crucial sequence, this causes a potentially tragic situation. Bad isn't his birth name, but he uses it because it is his personality. He has five failed marriages and a grown son he hasn't seen since the boy was four. It is little wonder his son won't talk to him. Bad has in some way or another alienated those who love him his whole life. Will the trend continue with Jean and Buddy, or will he find a way to find his better self after all these years?
Jeff Bridges won his long overdue Oscar for Best Actor for this role, and it's one in which he inhabits inside and out as easily as he has his many other memorable characters. Bridges never seems to reach for effect. He allows us in and we don't have to work too hard to feel like someone who has known him his whole life. That is the mark of a great actor: we don't catch him acting. Gyllenhaal (also Oscar-nominated for this film) doesn't give us the standard movie girlfriend who stands by and watches her man self-destruct. She seems to really like Bad, but has reservations about him. After all, how couldn't she? Jean will walk a mile with Bad, but we find out, not much farther, and for good reason.
In a critical scene, Bad is told to stop drinking, smoking, and lose weight. He doesn't do any of it, and we think we are going to just watch a man sink into despair until his ill health finally gets the better of him. But, that is not the case. We see a man who realizes he can actually change his ways, and with that, he learns to write songs again and reclaim his fame. When we see
Bad and Jean reunite at the film's end (although not how you would expect), we know they are in better places than when the film opened. Crazy Heart is directed with surefire skill by Scott Cooper, whose follow-up films ranged from pretty good (Black Mass) to not-so-good (Out of the Furnace). With Crazy Heart, he clearly loves these people and for a while allows us to witness them grow.
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