Jeff Bridges’ compelling, lived-in performance is the highlight of this moving look at a man at the end of his road. But despite the star’s well-deserved Oscar, this is not a one-man show–the entire talented cast helps Crazy Heart warmly draw you in with its honest, rugged grace and hard-earned hope.
[The following is a REPRINT of my theatrical review of Crazy Heart from last month. Crazy Heart is now on DVD and available in the redboxes.]
The take on Crazy Heart is that it’s a good film built around a great performance—Jeff Bridges’ as Bad Blake, a hard-drinking, highway-weary country singer-songwriter who’s just about run out of fuel and road.
That’s true to an extent—first-time writer-director Scott Cooper is a solid storyteller and an even better crafter of characters. He may not be a flashy director, and the tale he’s sharing doesn’t sing out with cinematic originality either in its parts or the telling. But it doesn’t matter one whit—each time I watch Crazy Heart it feels truer and more welcoming (even in its troubled and sad parts).
The film has been compared to last year’s brilliant The Wrestler, and it’s easy to see why given the similarity of the plots: One-time performing lion finds the love of a younger woman while pursuing one last comeback. But while The Wrestler was a rough and raw film that hummed with Darren Aronofsky’s directorial finesses, it also had a slight coldness to it, a sort of sliding-down fatalism. Crazy Heart is the opposite: there’s a warmth and hope here. Ultimately The Wrestler suggested that the quest for redemption was worthy in and of itself, even if the goal is never achieved. Crazy Heart believes that redemption is genuinely possible.
And then there’s the acting. At the center of course is Bridges. This is not some sort of career pinnacle or revelation for Jeff Bridges: the man has been turning in performances this perfectly turned for four decades. But in channeling Townes Van Zandt by way of Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, Bridges slides effortlessly into the character and the film, capturing an old man who’s made a living and a life out of romanticizing his ornery stubbornness–to the point it’s nearly destroyed him. Bridges shows us the struggles such a person has in letting go of their cherished, prideful, self-destructive image of themselves in order to save themselves.
If that weren’t enough, Maggie Gyllenhaal is wonderful as the single mother who ends up trying to rescue Bad, even as she herself tries to put together a second chance. Colin Farrell is note-perfect as Blake’s ex-performing partner, a younger, much more successful singer who the mainstream has handed the sort of adulation and fortune guys like Blake chased all their lives.
And the film’s producer, Robert Duvall, sneaks into Crazy Heart in its second half to simply, casually do that amazing Robert Duvall Thing. This man has been a movie actor and star for 50 years and yet he still disappears completely inside roles that never once feel artificial or showy. The beauty of Duvall is when you see his characters half your mind says, “that’s our national acting treasure Robert Duvall” and half says, “no, that’s a real person—I just saw that guy on the street or in a bar.”
Last year it was frustrating when people stayed away from The Wrestler because they didn’t like pro wrestling. I hope the same doesn’t happen to Crazy Heart—I love the sort of country music Bad Blake is peddling—the honest and earnest songs written not just from the end of the bar, but the end of one’s rope. But you don’t have to be interested or into country music to get a lot from Crazy Heart—you just have to be interested in human beings.
Posted on April 24, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Anything with Duvall or Bridges in it has to be good.
Posted on April 25, 2010 at 10:33 pm
@casey jones — amen to that. Interestingly, I remember a film of a similar nature where Duvall played the part of the nearly burned out musician/singer named Max Sledge. The movie was “Tender Mercies”, from 1983. As always, Duvall was great, too.
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 11:30 am
I agree totally with you both….Tender Mercies was great!! Love both of them. Did you see “The Betsy” with Robert Duvall…in the 70s I think. That was really good.
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 11:46 am
The actors are Great!! But the movie sucked!! Need I say more. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and waste your money and time (redbox won’t mind) and rent it and you will see. The movie is slow starting off and it’s the same thing over and over “sing, drunk, with a girl” just like singing a country song. But thats my thoughts!
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I agree with you Jay! That movie stunk! If you like watching a drunk, beer bellied man, who constantly smokes, waste his life away, go ahead. But it was boring and depressing, and disgusting and unbelievable to watch a younger, attractive girl look interested in him.
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Great movie!
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 1:20 pm
JUST LIKE ALL COUNTY WESTREN STUFF ABOUT HEARTBREAK CRYING THE BLUES I’M SUPPRISED HIS DOG DID’NT DIE HIS GIRL SURE SHOULD HAVE
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I’m not a fan of country, but I still loved Coal Miners Daughter and Walk The Line. Crazy Heart is not a wit less of a compelling human drama of failure and redemption and, like life, it’s not predictable. Unlike the interest of the young, single mother, in an icon, I found the interest of the icon in the single mother bewildering, until it’s explained by a phone call. At that point, it all made sense. Doesn’t everybody want a do-over for their mistakes? It’s a shame, for some, that judgemental opinion obscured, even ruined, a classic human story. Oh, and the bar-helper – was that one of Duval’s in-laws?
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 1:46 pm
If you folks like Crazy Heart, you should try to track down a copy of the 1973 film Payday starring Rip Torn as a C&W singer on the road at the peak of his kinda sleazy, money-grubbing career–you can almost see it as the thematic prequel to Crazy Heart. Payday is an excellent film, but it might take a while to find–I keep hoping the success of Crazy Heart will lead to a re-release of Payday.
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Bridges was very believable and did a good job and I can see why he was nominated for an Oscar. However, this movie kind of sucked. It was extremely slow paced and too understated. (I can tolerate slow and understated if done well.) There were several instances where I just didn’t buy the storyline. I was interested at first, but by the end I was checking my watch.
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 5:51 pm
This movie was completely disappointing. The plotline and dialogue were so boring I was embarrassed I suggested my friend and I see it. I actually felt guilty. There was not one redeeming moment in the film, a complete waste of time.
Posted on April 28, 2010 at 8:13 am
Movie was great disappointment, nice to see how academy looked passed movie but good acting.
Posted on April 28, 2010 at 9:35 am
What a great review. I’m definitely going to rent this movie…
Posted on April 28, 2010 at 9:40 am
Rented two Oscar nominated movies this year (this one & Up in the Air) and both left me less than satisfied at the end. I guess I want escapism because these types of life bites then you die type films leave me wishing I hadn’t bothered.
Posted on April 28, 2010 at 9:44 am
Locke:
Excellent insight of Crazy Heart and Jeff Bridges’ performance! It was an epiphany to read your connection to The Wrestler, one of the best, dark and pathetic stories and perfomances this century.
The storyline was a little slow and predictable and the main character a clonned caricture of many before him. But it was a joy to get lost in this segment of the character’s life. I don’t agree that Gullyenhaal tried to save him, she just went for the ride and then bailed.
Posted on April 28, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Thanks Jimmy Bobby, I’m glad you appreciated it–I’m just doing what I can, one review at a time, to make up for liking Bad Lieutenant POCNO so much :)
You may have a point that Gyllenhaal wasn’t trying to save him as just got caught up in his mystique and his gruff-but-lovable “legend.” But I don’t know that she “bailed” on him–we get the sense she’d been burned before in a marriage and simply had to make a tough choice to protect her son and herself from letting another screwed-up drunk mess up her life. It seemed harsh and maybe “cold” by movie standards for her to shut the door on him when he came back sober, but it also felt pretty realistic.