Decent performances but very poorly written.

Rating: 3/10 (8 January 2012)

I kept wanting to really like this film and every now and then there would be a scene or two that struck an emotional chord with me, but something about it always felt off. I thought both Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were solid on their own (I wouldn't nominate either personally but I don't mind their nominations) but that relationship felt so strained to me. I didn't understand the motivation of it at all, particularly from her character.
One minute she seemed like this flighty reporter girl and the next she was screaming at him and talking about all the mistakes she made.It felt like her character was written kind of all over the place and then brought around in order to bring out the most dramatic moments for Bad. I don't know, it all felt off to me, on that aspect. Plus really, how many times do we need to see a mother give her child to a low-life trying to get by and have them lose the kid? The second that scene started you knew where it was going. That had me rolling my eyes a lot.
I think the two of them make up for a lot of the flaws in the script and I liked some of the aspects of studying him as a character, but a lot of it felt too convenient (all of these things happening in his life so quickly) and like they didn't dig deep enough into the darkness of the character or his addiction. It really didn't work for me.