Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges, in the role that will certainly go down as his greatest in a long line of characters, plays Bad Blake, a washed up, alcoholic country star struggling with the impending twilight of his career.

The role has won critical acclaim and Bridges has been nominated, and won scores of awards. The film is essentially a combination of the Wrestler and Walk the Line, with a dash of Leaving Las Vegas. The surprise for me was how little of a role that alcoholism plays in the film. Bridges does well, but the story lacks the tragedy required of a film with this tone.

The film is good, and there is ample levity to make it less of a sob story, and more of a realistic fictional character study. Maggie Gyllenhall is a good choice as the younger love interest, and Robert Duvall plays the older mentor with his typical natural charm, but actually, it is Collin Farrell who makes the biggest impact in a relatively small role as Tommy Sweet, Blake's protege who tries to help rejuvenate his dwindling career, much to Blake's chagrin. Farrell has a great country singing voice that makes Bridges' weak, pitchy one pale in comparison.

I liked the character played by Bridges, but the singing angle is unbelievable. The songs are catchy and generic and there is a surefire Oscar for "The Weary Kind" but the songs also have that old country simplicity that bring an upbeat quality to the film.

Whether Bridges will win an Oscar depends entirely on the Academy. They tend to reward haggard, hard drinking, hard smoking, graying stubbled actors. I think that he will win his first in five nominations. The film doesn't resonate as anything more than an entertaining flick with some good music, and an unexpected happy ending, but it is worth watching. 7/10.