A movie at the wrong time.

Rating: 7/10 (12 April 2010)

Preface: This was a difficult film review to write as I don't know very much about love, old age, or country music. Whenever I find reviews hard to conceptualize, I write the first paragraph in my mind while on my nightly walk. "Shutter Island" took me two two-mile walks to complete before pressing the keys on my laptop. "Crazy Heart" was worth four walks for the first two paragraphs. I tried to be more conversational with this one, assuming you know something about the movie. I used to hide my creative deficiencies behind cultural critiques, and now I've incorporated them more effectively into the article.
Bad Blake is the reason modern country music was sanitized. He's the epitome of what a lot of over-protective people would find distasteful in their singers. He's not aspiring to be anyone's role model, though. The man's hardened belly fat hangs out of his unbuttoned shirt and alcohol is always on his breath. He lives almost exclusively in motels and chases women. The only noteworthy feature of this washed up old fart is his country music. People find something admirable in it and flock to his performances and buy his CDs.
Crazy Heart is the story of Bad Blake sometime late in his life. I'm told he is actually portrayed by Jeff Bridges, but I'll be damned if I didn't think Blake was playing Bridges. Whoever it is in the title role doesn't only look the part of an ole timey singer, but makes you think he really is one. Maybe Blake could have been a movie star and Bridges a country singer.
The Blake we see is now is happy to travel from bowling alleys to bars playing for his aging fans. He can indulge in their effervescent adoration for free booze and sex. The first part of the movie is actually little more than his mundane day-to-day life. Things pick when he meets pretty reporter Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who asks him a few questions about his life and music. Blake tries to answer a few questions and before mesmerizing her and the audience with the quote "I can't believe how bad you make this room look". It has to be one of the best pick up lines nobody thought of and really shows off his talents as a songwriter. The line sells the film as the almost-biopic Bridges and Blake make it to be.
But he moves on and plays the role of special guest for a modern singer whose songs he writes. He keeps in touch with Jean and they start dating. She even visits him at his home, where he eventually proceeds to lose her child while at the mall. Their relationship comes to a sudden end and he writes a song about redemptive romance called "Crazy Heart".
Bad Blake is too settled at the point in his life that we see. I would have much preferred to see him in his glory days. A lot of Crazy Heart is well-acted nothingness interrupted by various occurrences that spring action into place. Take when Blake crashes his car and Jean meets him in the hospital. This haphazard results in their reconnection that moves the stagnant story forward. She takes him home and he bonds with her son. He loses the kid and they break up. He tries to find solace by going sober, while she finds a more reliable (not an alcoholic) boyfriend.
Maybe, if Blake had died, his film would have the emotive effect of The Wrestler. The latter has the same type of character in a more challenging and symbolic setting. Bad Blake is placed in a world of his own, and we are forced onto him. This is a curious case of an otherwise ineffectual movie only worth watching because of the impressive performance of its leading actor. Recommended