Review: Crazy Heart

Grade: A

Bad Blake is a down on his luck, hard living country music singer who has one too many drinks far too often and is having a hard time catching a break and is now playing dive bars and bowling alleys for money. While on the road, as usual, he meets a young reporter, Jean, who he begins to have feelings for during the course of their interviews as she begins to see the real man behind the songs. Along the way, Bad runs into an old friend of sorts, Tommy Sweet, a country music star whom Bad resents a little because he taught him everything he knows about country music. Things finally start looking up for Bad when he starts writing songs again and making a little more money as he tries to improve himself.

This movie was crazy good. I enjoyed it from start to finish and it is absolutely worth seeing. Filled with amazing performances and fantastic music, it is a joy to watch. The music is great because it's the kind of country music that doesn't exist anymore, it's the kind of country I like, which is music that is heavily influenced by blues. I honestly think that even if you don't like country music, much like myself, you will enjoy this movie. The direction of the movie was amazing as well, it is a beautiful movie.

Jeff Bridges (Iron Man, The Men Who Stare At Goats) plays the lead role of Bad Blake. Bridges gives his best performance since The Big Lebowski. His performance as bad was just amazing and it is very easy to see why he is nominated for best actor at the Oscars this year, if he wins it will be well deserved. Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight, Stranger Than Fiction) plays Jean, Bad's love interest. Gyllenhaal gives a pretty good performance in this movie, she is full of emotion and heart. Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Pride and Glory) plays Tommy Sweet, a country music star. While Farrell's role is relatively small, he pulls it off very well, especially when you consider that he's an Irish actor playing a southern country star. Robert Duvall (The Road, Thank You For Smoking) plays Wayne, an old friend of Bad's. As with Colin Farrell, Duvall only shows up for a small period of time during the movie but his role and performance is so good that I feel that I need to mention it.

This movie is a top notch film that I feel should have been nominated for best picture this year. I feel that it can easily be enjoyed by all, but do keep in mind it is rated R for language, if you worry about that. Definitely see this movie as soon as you can.

Great quote: "I tried baseball once, but I couldn't hit the curve ball. So I figured I'd stick with the guitar, damn thing stays where it's supposed to be."