Not Nearly as Twangy as you Might Expect

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2012)

Jeff Bridges is one of my favorite actors, and just so happens to be the leading man in two of my favorite films (The Big Lebowski and Arlington Road). Now 61 years young, he's certainly showing no signs of slowing down.
Crazy Heart, the 2009 offering for which Bridges took home the Oscar for Best Actor, is a prime example of the acting titan's ability to consistently breathe credibility into any variety of characters. Think of it as an optimistic version of Aronofsky's The Wrestler (though it doesn't resonate on quite so many levels).
Here, our protagonist is Bad Blake, an aging country music legend who's been reduced to churning out the same tired songs in bowling alleys, side street restaurants, and the like. Bad makes no bones about the fact that he's tired of his career existing on the verge of oblivion, but he's also conscious of the fact that his problems are a result of his diseased condition. Bad's a chain-smoking alcoholic who has plenty of domestic issues he's trying to sort out, and his nightly post- performance routine involves liaisons with less-than-reputable female admirers.
All of that begins to change when he meets Jean (Gyllenhaal), a Santa Fe journalist who who's trying to start her career as an entertainment writer. The two hit it off almost immediately, and some genuine emotions lead to a relationship that accurately mirrors the non- Hollywood (insert "harsh") complexity found in real life affinities.
There are a few predictable "bumps in the road" for Bad and Jean, but the story never deteriorates into the usual sequence of mistakes which finds a reconciled couple kissing as the credits roll. On top of this— as previously indicated—Crazy Heart is surprisingly upbeat. Though Bad has his fair share of issues, the movie makes a clear statement that recovery (especially from the dark dredges of alcoholism) is, in fact, possible. It even goes a step further by highlighting what life beyond such a wretched state is like.
That's what I like most about Crazy Heart—the fact that it doesn't take (what is now) a clichéd route with its plot. Sure, people die from the same things Bad is battling on a daily basis, but there are many who overcome their circumstances. This is something that director Scott Cooper and novelist Thomas Cobb obviously wanted to emphasize, and I heartily applaud the decision.
Crazy Heart is worth your time. It doesn't "reinvent the wheel," but stellar acting and an able story make it that rare faux biopic that leaves you smiling instead of grinding your teeth as you mull over the bitter fruit of the world's debauchery.