You wouldn't be crazy to watch it

Rating: 6/10 (6 March 2010)

"Crazy Heart" was a very well-executed film, but at times I wasn't entirely sure what is what that I was seeing be executed well. It follows Jeff Bridges' character of the dissolute, aging country singer Bad Blake intently enough to suggest a character study, and the pacing suggests one too, but we never really penetrate too much into Bad Blake. We know he's a big drinker and a smoker who's frustrated with playing small gigs -- we're shown it over and over again. We get to know a little of his womanizing past and get to see him charm women a bit. But we never really get to the why of these things. We are led to cheer for him as he contacts his son for the first time in twenty-four years, but we never really learn why he waited so long.
Instead we get a picture of Bad Blake through scenes of his constant (and that is not an exaggeration) drinking, smoking, lounging half-dressed in a stupor, and occasional tempermentalness. He finds some late redemption through Maggie Gyllenhaal (whose character is also somewhat underdeveloped except as a foil for Blake), but this is not enough to prevent the film from feeling -- ironic for a musical -- a bit one-note.
The real show here is supposed to be Jeff Bridges' performance, of course, and it is indeed excellent, as well as mainly better than the movie around it. Bridges is very believable inhabiting the tired and apathetic but frustrated but Blake. However, perhaps it has to do with the material he is given, but once he has created his remarkable characterization he doesn't really seem to stretch it anywhere. As a consequence I came away feeling like it held one note a little too much as well.
"Crazy Heart" seems to belong to one of a breed of movies which are in some sense built around the performance of one actor. That's a tough bill for any actor featured that way to fill, and Jeff Bridges gets commendations for creating a characterization memorable enough to fill it. On the whole the picture was well done, and I enjoyed it for its fine acting, black humor, and good music, but there was not always enough, drama, incident, or variety for it to be completely satisfying for me.