Bridges' Oscar worthy performance highlights engaging portrait of aging country singer's battle with the bottle

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2010)

In an Oscar worthy performance, Jeff Bridges is 'Bad Blake', a down on his luck, washed up country singer who is addicted to the demon alcohol. What I like about the screenwriter's characterization of Bad Blake, is that he's someone who still likes himself despite all the reversals he's had in his life. It's precisely this portrait of an aging former country star who 'sticks to his guns' that makes the character believable and prevents the story from descending into bathos.
When we first meet Bad Blake, he's just arrived in his beat up '78 Suburban for a gig at a bowling alley somewhere in a small town in the mid west. When he plays and sings before the appreciative audience, it appears that he's just going through the motions—toward the end of his set, he walks off the stage and lets the hired band play, while he hits the bottle backstage. And when he returns, he only plays for one minute and calls it a night. After returning to his motel, he continues his downward spiral by drinking himself into a stupor.
His next gig is in another small town at a bar. There he meets a talented piano player who asks him if he would allow an interview with his niece, Jean, a local reporter, smartly played by Maggie Guyllenhaal. Blake is guarded during his interview with Jean and won't talk about his former country music partner, Tommy Sweet, who soon appears prominently in the story. Before you know it, Blake finds himself in bed with Jean and a relationship develops. Some critics and internet posters cannot believe that a younger, good-looking woman would fall for an washed-up alcohol like Bad Blake. In the novel the movie is based on, the woman is closer to Blake in age. Yes, it might be a stretch to believe that a younger woman would fall for a character such as Bad Blake, but it's still possible—especially if the woman in question is emotionally needy and has had a pattern for falling for self-destructive types (she even admits this later when she breaks up with Blake).
Soon Blake hears from his tough but caring manager (very convincingly played by James Keane) that he's arranged a gig for Blake to play on the under card of Tommy Sweet's big concert which will have over 10,000 people in attendance. Sweet, a younger former protégé, has eclipsed Blake and now boasts a huge following on the country music circuit. Blake decides to swallow his pride and accepts the gig since he needs the money. When we first meet Sweet, he's greeting Blake in the parking lot before the concert. Colin Farrell does a fine job in portraying the thoughtful Sweet who wants to help Blake by offering to record some of Blake's new songs if he only gets around to composing them. At this point, Blake turns Sweet down since he indicates that his muse had dried up. Nonetheless, both Blake and Sweet put on a rousing show before enthralled fans (Bridges and Farrell, under the tutelage of a vocal coach, do a fine job in doing their own singing on the soundtrack).
At the midpoint one wonders where the story is going and two major events occur that keep things moving nicely forward. In both cases, Blake's alcoholism puts him in jeopardy. In the first event, Blake is almost killed when he nods off at the wheel and his Suburban rolls over into a ditch off the highway. In the second event (where the stakes are significantly raised), Blake loses Jean's four year old as he takes a few drinks at a bar at a local mall. Security guards at the mall eventually locate the boy but Jean is infuriated and breaks up with Blake on the spot.
It's this horrendous event that convinces Blake that he needs to get himself in rehab. Helped by his friend, a local bar owner (ably played by the always dependable Robert Duvall), Blake weans himself off the bottle. He thinks this is enough for Jean to forgive him, but she makes it clear she doesn't want to see him again.
Jean's rejection finally brings Blake completely down to reality. Now he really cleans himself up (physically and spiritually) and begins writing music again. He even takes time to try and contact his son who he hasn't seen in years (sadly, the son wants nothing to do with him).
Before you know it, Tommy Sweet has recorded one of Blake's hits and it's become a #1 smash. Sweet hands Blake a big royalty check and it appears he's now back in the money and rehabilitated himself. Blake faces one last hurdle when he runs into Jean at Sweet's concert. She's now married and forgives Blake for what happened with her son. We fade out as Blake grants Jean a new interview.
Jeff Bridges does an excellent job of playing the talented but troubled alcoholic. He's probably a shoo-in for this year's Oscar. In fact, all the performances in Crazy Heart are uniformly excellent and they prevent the story from becoming predictable and clichéd. Crazy Heart does suffer from slow pacing at times (some of the 'bonding' scenes between Blake and Jean's four year old go on for a little too long) but all in all, there are enough twists and turns in the plot to hold your interest to the end. Crazy Heart is one of the stronger entries in this year's crowded field of indie entries for best picture.