MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Crazy Heart Rated R

Directed by Scott Cooper.  Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Photo © Fox Searchlight Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Jeff Bridges has always been one of my favorite actors and he’s long overdue for a mantel-full of awards.  But, as great as his performance as country singer Bad Blake is in this film (and it is very good), this movie seems just about average in its story. 

Like 2008’s The Wrestler, Crazy Heart also tells a tale about a formerly great star who is now playing second-rate clubs or opening up for protégés who are now more famous than he is.  Bad Blake (Bridges) lives on the road by himself, drinks whiskey by the bottle in his motel room, and beds any available woman he can pick up in the bar. 

When he grants an interview to Jean Craddock (Gyllenhaal), a single mother with a young son and some of her own issues, their relationship turns into something that may bring Blake hope, or remind him of his shortcomings.  There’s a nice subplot about his competition/friendship with Tommy Sweet (Collin Farrell), a younger singer whom Blake has known for years through their love of music and Blake’s reputation as a great songwriter. 

The songs by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Bingham sings and plays in the backup band in the movie) are very good, and Jeff Bridges is a good county singer, which makes the soundtrack album a wise purchase. 

But Crazy Heart’s plot is a boilerplate script: Washed up former star meets a woman who might save him, but runs into a conflict that must be resolved for things to work out in the end.  The romance begins too soon, the crisis seemed rather arbitrary to me, and I would have liked to learn more about the country music scene. 

But, if you like Jeff Bridges and country music, Crazy Heart is worth a viewing. 

Professor Tex Sample has been reminding the church for years that we need to pay attention to “hard living folk” and what we can learn about their lives by listening to country music. 

So come to see Jeff Bridges, stay for the music, and leave when the movie’s over.  You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos. (As clichéd and by-the-numbers as characters studies go, it has good performances and a story of redemption at its crazy heart.) Three picthforks. (For cussin’, boozin’, smokin’ and messin’ around.)

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