Same Old Tired Out Song

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2010)

CRAZY HEART is not a bad movie, it is just a repetitive movie - yet another story about a down and out alcoholic/druggie/choose your addiction who has a life turn around moment and climbs out of the mess of a soup he/she made of life. No need to go into details as this film not unexpectedly garnered many nods at the Oscars as have the many, many other films with the same theme in the past. Yes Jeff Bridges is credible as the filthy has been alcoholic country singer Bad Blake, and perhaps it is his ability to make us tolerate his abominable behavior and still stick by him (his modus operandi on his descent into nothingness) that makes his performance gather attention from critics. But unless you are willing to spend the first two-thirds or more of the long film watching him vomit and misbehave, long enough to see his typical AA turnaround and attempt to make up for the deeds soaked in his alcoholic past, you may tire of the theme. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a solid performance as a woman so bruised by her men of the past that she is able to catch a glimpse into the potential of Bad Blake. Colin Farrell makes a brief but significant appearance as one of the reasons for Bad's going off track. The rest of the cast feels well in tune with the country western crowd and makes us understand the need for music heroes. But in the end it is just another hard luck story, of which there are just too many. Maybe reading Thomas Cobb's novel by the same name would provide more reason to care about Bad than we do.
Grady Harp