country songs with great acting

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2010)

After seeing this, Jeff Bridges definitely deserved the Oscar he won for this role. He was great and so was Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don't think this was the best movie because it moved slowly along and there wasn't a lot of action, but the songs and acting were great. I'm always a fan of movies that have several original songs that are good, and this movie has that. The country songs in this are quite catchy and are performed several times in the movie.
Bridges plays a typical alcoholic aging country star, Bad Blake. Bad is reduced to playing small bars and bowling allies. He spends the days drinking and shows up just in time to sing his set. At one of his stops, he meets Jean, a small town reporter whom wants an interview. She interviews him twice and the second time starts an affair with him. This was my only problem with the film because Maggie G. is just too young for Jeff B. for it to be believable. She's not a groupie and I didn't buy someone with a young son like her would start an affair with a traveling singer. But, after getting past that, she invites Bad over to meet her boy. Bad continues his tour but is hurt in a car wreck so calls on Jean to help him out. He spends more time with Jean and her son and the relationship grows.
He leaves again, but they keep in touch and she comes to visit. There is an incident involving Bad and her son that changes everything including making Bad realize he needs to clean up his act.
FINAL VERDICT: Great, a must see.