04 Feb 2010, Posted by Alex Shofner in Articles,Film Reviews,Reviews, 0 Comments

“Crazy Heart” crazy good

When is an artist past his prime? When do the drugs and the alcohol and the long nights of performing and being on the road finally catch up? Is it ever too late for a rebirth?

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays “Bad Blake”, an old, broken down, alcoholic country singer who still tours the dive bars to make ends meet. Once a worldwide success, his drinking habit has driven him into a seemingly insurmountable cave. It is only when a small town reporter in Santa Fe, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, interviews him for a story that the sunshine peeks out once again from behind the clouds.

Their May/December romance (which seems to happen a lot in movies these days) is a whirlwind one. She loves the man she once idolized, and he loves her age. All the fans he was able to bed in the small town bars were old and broken like himself, and she still has the zest of youth. Their relationship grows as he becomes attached to her young son. His own son, now in his 30′s, is estranged from him and he seems to be trying to make up for his own shortcomings as a father with the child.

But his alcoholism leads to disaster as he loses the child in a mall while drinking at a bar, and she takes her son back to Santa Fe, no longer able to trust Bad Blake. His quest for redemption closes out the rest of the movie.

The romance part of this film dragged at times, but everything else was extraordinary and subtle at the same time. I would have liked to see more of his recovery and redemption.

The soundtrack to this movie is spectacular. Bridges’ performance is, as usual, fantastic. Robert Duvall and Colin Ferrell (who annoyed me much less than he usually does) provided solid, albeit brief, supporting roles. This is helmer Scott Cooper’s directorial debut, and he pulls it off well. The Oscar nominations for music and for Bridges are well deserved, though I raise an eyebrow at Gyllenhaal’s supporting actress nomination. If the Golden Globes are any indication, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Crazy Heart walk home with two statuettes on Oscar night.

ShofScore: 7.5

– Alex Shofner