The Dude Abides

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2011)

I must admit here that I'm not into music. I don't have a problem with music, it's just that I'm not addicted & can only somewhat tell genres & instruments apart. And after Mickey Rourke got an Oscar nomination last year for The Wrestler, I thought this was just "another" similar film. Maybe that's the reason I avoided this film initially. But when I saw Jeff Bridges get his long-pending Oscar for this & read about all the other awards he got, I was ashamed & managed to catch up with it as soon as I could.
It narrates the story of good ol' country singer Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) who manages to find inspiration in the evening days of his life after a tempestuous relationship with a young Journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal). He's had his days of glory & can still compose an impromptu line or two to impress a girl. He's still famous among the old shopkeepers who probably used to hear him on the radio in their shops. But, the younger generation identifies with singer Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) who was trained by Bad & even sings songs written by him. Blake remains drunk & broke for most of the time now. It's not easy for such a man to give up his pride. But Blake has to. The phone call scene where he agrees to open for his protégé Tommy shows these struggling layers of pride and need for money. He cant refuse any of the work he gets from his loyal secretary (Paul Herman) and also from Tommy, who gratefully acknowledges him in every show he does.
Maybe this was a cliché but I found many points like the supportive friend (Robert Duvall), the acknowledging protégé, the understanding girlfriend etc. which many a times work against the helpless protagonist but actually help him out here. Also, in such movies, it tends to become boring but the music (Bingham & Burnett) doesn't allow that here. In fact, the best part of this feel-good movie (apart from Bridges) was obviously the music, which I enjoyed even without any idea of music especially Fallin' & Flyin', Hold on You, Somebody Else & (the Oscar winning) The Weary Kind. Jeff made it believable by lending his own peppery voice to many of the songs. The screenplay (by director Scott Cooper) based on a novel by the same name doesn't have a biographical story with a definite start-end. And it is never preachy with underlying morality or traumatic speeches at any point which made it impressive.
A career-defining role for Jeff Bridges, who will be remembered for this as he will be for The Big Lebowski.
As Maggie said in the movie - Is this what you call the "old country charm" ? You can say the same about the movie, I guess.
7 / 10