Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart.

Crazy Heart is one of those movies that's winning lots of awards for its lead; Jeff Bridges. I know I certainly wouldn't have watched it if it hadn't been nominated for a couple of Oscars. Not that it's a bad film. It's actually pretty good, but I can't say that Bridges performance (as good as it is) is so special that it demands to be dominating Award's Season the way it is. It feels very much like one of those seasons that's rewarding a career rather than a single performance.

Bridges plays the aptly named Bad Blake, a faded country western singer who, when the movie opens, is doing a tour that consists of bowling alleys and bars. Bad is old school country. He's been married four times and has a son he hasn't seen in decades. He's a smoker, a drinker and a lover of loose women. His charms aren't quite what they once were though since he's now pushing sixty.

Fortunately for Bad, two things conspire to improve his life. He meets a much younger, single mother and aspiring journalist Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) whom he starts having an affair with after he gives her an interview. His budding relationship with her young son makes him begin to think about what he might have missed out with his own son.

The second thing that happens is that Bad's former protege Tommy (Farrell) offers Bad a large sum of money to write some songs for him. Although Bad is reluctant at first, he eventually agrees; even going so far as to perform as Tommy's opening act during one concert.

To give Bridges his due, he does a good job playing the burnt out old country singer. He gives a heartfelt performance that remains firmly grounded in reality. The drama never goes overboard and remains fairly subdued and I mean that entirely in a good way. Using Bad's son as an example, the resolution of that small subplot is low key and realistic and not what you might expect from a Hollywood film. He also handles the songs quite well and at least one of them is rather catchy.

Although Bridges does give a nice performance, this is a hard movie to get excited about. We've certainly seen the aging star trying to reconcile with his past before. There's not a lot unique about it. I can't see myself ever watching it again.

Given how many of the awards he's won so far this year, it's almost a dead cert that Bridges will win the Oscar. I can't say he doesn't deserve it and he will be remembered as an Oscar winner, but I doubt the movie itself will be remembered for long. It's good enough, just not very special or unique.

Did you enjoy Scott's review? +6 -0

Jeff Bridges making like Kris Kristofferson.

Yeah there isn’t much original about this one. Scott Cooper, in his directing debut, does not impress. Some of the camera angles seem poorly planned and the pacing is uneven and a bit sluggish. The story seems a bit pat as well. For example when Bad finally decides to go into rehab to quit drinking it seems incredibly effortless. At the end I thought, “Oh, that’s it”.

Bridges is good. He makes the character more interesting than the script does. I agree that the songs are decent. They all sound like they could be played on country radio. Especially, “Funny How Falling Feels Like Flying”. Scott, I assume that is the tune you found catchy. I was singing it for several hours after the movie was over.

Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a heartfelt performance as Bad’s much younger love interest. Her character is definitely there for support though as we don’t really learn much about her except that she is a single mom with bad taste in men.

I have a question. After watching the entire movie I couldn’t tell whether it was set in the present or some time within the last 25 years. The phones, clothes and cars made it seem like the late 1980’s or early ‘90’s. Not that it really matters but I like to know the year that my movies are set in. It’s a quirk of mine.

Did you enjoy Patrick's review? +5 -0