Step 1: Great role, so-so movie. While it showcases Jeff Bridges’ extraordinary talents and delivers a couple of decent country music tunes, Crazy Heart is basically a retread that doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression.
Step 2: Don’t drink too hard. Bridges plays Bad Blake, a once-great country music star whose career and relationships have gone sour due to his hard-drinking, alienating life. He’s now on the road, playing at local piano bars and bowling alleys in order to make some cash – and throwing up in the alley between sets. His agent begs him to write some new music for an album, but Blake’s creativity well has run dry. That is, until he meets and woos Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist and single mom who captures Blake’crazy heart. Suddenly, things start to look up, including getting an opening act gig for country superstar Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), an up and comer Blake once mentored when he was first starting out. All of Blake’s bad habits prove too hard to kick, however, and soon his relationship with Jean starts to slide downhill. This becomes a blessing in disguise because Blake begins to pour his heart out through song – and rebuild his life.
Step 3: Sound all too familiar? It should. There have been so many movies about grizzled, alcoholic artists who either bounce back or die trying. One that comes to mind similar to Crazy Heart is the 1983 Tender Mercies, which starred Robert Duvall in his Oscar-winning performance as a, you guessed it, former country singing star who hits rock bottom only to come back through the love of a woman. Ironically, Duvall produced Crazy Heart and has a small role as Blake’s one and only friend, an old coot who runs a bar. I actually double checked Duvall’s character name in Heart to see if it was the same guy from Mercies. They aren’t the same, but it would have been kinda cool if they were, don’t you think? It’s obvious Duvall loves this type of story and has an affinity for country music. And even if Crazy Heart is based on a novel, first-time writer/director Scott Cooper must have had the same nostalgic feelings for Tender Mercies as Duvall – which is fine, really. The plot devices work, even if they feel overdone.
Step 4: Get to the real point of doing this kind of movie: a) come up with some good music and b) hand over a choice role to a veteran actor able to portray it. I wouldn’t say this is the best performance Bridges has ever given (it might be a toss up between The Fabulous Baker Boys or Fearless for me), but I’m thinking career Oscar at this point. He totally nails Bad Blake – all at once quiet, sad, drunk, fat, sweaty AND sings all his own songs. The other stand-outs are: Farrell as Tommy, who isn’t the cliché diva type but genuinely respects his mentor and really only wants to see him back in top form; and Ryan Bingham, a young 28-year-old country songwriter who, along with T-Bone Burnett, composes Crazy Heart‘s music, including the great song “The Weary Kind.” It could easily end up winning the Oscar for Best Song (if they include the category). I met Bingham at the Crazy Heart press junket, and he seems to have packed about 60 years into his short life, most evident in his voice when he himself sings “The Weary Kind” at the end credits.
Level of difficulty in watching Crazy Heart: Not too hard. The one thing you might take home after you see the film is Bingham’s gravelly pipes singing a really sad song.