A Journalism Assignment

So we have to do a film review for our latest assignment. This is the first one I've ever done, so be gentle.


Crazy Heart

3 stars (out of 5)

There are some films that feel simply like the vehicle for a “Best Actor” Oscar. A Beautiful Mind was one (though Russell Crowe managed to punch himself out of contention), The Wrestler was one, and now we can file Crazy Heart under the same category.

The ever-excellent Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a grizzly country singer/songwriter whose best years are behind him. We are introduced to Blake as he gets out of his old pick-up truck with a bottle of urine in his hand and his pants unbuckled (and not for the last time, if I might add). This is the clearly middle of his fall from grace, as he prepares for a show in a bowling alley in some god-forsaken town in the Southwest.

Blake’s life consists of driving from place to place, staying in cheap motels, and playing shows with unfamiliar musicians booked by his distant manager (Paul Herman), all the while drinking his considerable sorrows away. (At one particularly alcohol-induced low point he walks off stage as a song begins to go throw up outside, and then walks back on just in time to strum the last chord.)

Things take a surprising turn, however, when he meets significantly younger journalist Jane (Maggie Gyllenhaal). She initially intends to interview Bad about his life, but the two strike up a romantic relationship not without its complications.

One of those complications, unfortunately, is that Maggie Gyllenhaal appears completely over-awed by a Jeff Bridges who is “in the zone”. She spends most of the film smiling giddily, as if she can’t quite believe she’s in the same scene as Bridges. It also doesn’t help that Gyllenhaal’s character is given little to no depth. We have no idea why she would be interested in Bad Blake, and vice-versa. She feels like nothing more than a fling, a musician’s perk while on the road, but we’re supposed to believe there’s more to it than that. We’re just not given many reasons to believe.

Then there is Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), who was once mentored by Bad Blake but has now firmly stepped out of his shadow and into the spotlight. Sweet is portrayed as the bad guy (Blake won’t even talk about his protégé), but from his few appearances in the film he actually comes across as a decent bloke. I’m not sure what to make of this -- is Blake just unreasonably bitter or did Sweet do something genuinely nasty to out-do his mentor? -- but since Colin Farrell wasn’t even listed on the film poster I saw in the cinema it’s probably not worth talking about.

One actor who was listed was Robert Duvall, who produces as well as acts in the film. He plays Bad’s long-time friend Wayne with suitable southern charm and grace. He only appears for a handful of minutes, but does plenty with the little time he is given. If Bridges and Duvall aren’t best friends in real life, they should be. That's one crazy gang I'd very much like to go fishing with.

Overall, the film does more than enough to hold one’s attention for just shy of 2 hours. Bad Blake is someone we can care about, someone we can hope to get out of the rut he finds himself in. The musical sequences also help to keep things entertaining, and though by no means a country music fan I found myself tapping my foot along to the catchy tunes on more than one occasion.

Debut director Scott Cooper (who also wrote the film) does an excellent job of showing us the life of Bad Blake on the dusty trail, with all its partial nudity, vomiting, and sweatiness. But in all honesty it doesn’t feel like too bad a life, despite the alcoholism and so forth. Perhaps that’s another of the film’s faults; the serious issues don’t seem quite so serious in light of Blake’s genial, happy-go-lucky, dare I say The Dude-esque nature.

Still, Crazy Heart delivers in what it chiefly sets out to do: Make you fall in love with Bad Blake/Jeff Bridges. If that’s an experience you want to have, then you won’t be disappointed.