Crazy Heart Movie Review By:Windy

Crazy Heart Movie Review
By:Windy

SandwichJohnFilms Residential movie reviewer went out and saw Crazy Heart and came in with this review. Also stop by Windy's home page and let her know what a great job she is doing.

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
And this ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

“Crazy Heart”, starring Jeff Bridges, opens with Bridges’ familiar tin singing a country tune. His voice is immediately recognizable and the melody of the song sets the tone for the film: lost, somber, perhaps even helpless.

Bad Blake, as Bridges’ character is known in the film, is a stereotypical down-and-out country singer who’s had one too many whiskeys, way too many women, and far too many years without a hit. He isn’t pretty to look at – disheveled, pants unbuttoned, visibly drunk and at times stumbling. However, Bridges brings a unique honesty and humbleness to the role. He’s an actor with decades of experience and over 75 film credits playing a stereotyped character in an initially limited-release film (which is gaining wider distribution based on increased interest in Bridges’ performance). Yet he puts all his heart into this character. He makes Bad Blake real – as real as Johnny Cash or any other country singer who has hit rough patches. His performance is truly effortless and if it weren’t for the fact that there’s been so much buzz about it, I would have thought I was watching Bad Blake – not Jeff Bridges.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jean Craddock, Blake’s love interest in the film. Gyllenhaal is in her element, where she is most comfortable and most believable – the not-quite-mainstream films. Unlike “A Dark Night”, where she just didn’t fit with the role and type of movie, Gyllenhaal comfortably plays a single mother falling for the bad boy, or in this case the “Bad Blake.” Craddock’s self-awareness is tangible as you feel her struggle with her decisions about getting involved with a drunk, unreliable traveling singer at the expense of her son’s upbringing.

Though physically, Gyllenhaal and Bridges don’t quite fit, their characters fall together perfectly in the film.

Colin Farrell plays Bad Blake’s protégé who has succeeded him in life, yet is given little credit for the role. Unfortunately, his part is small and out of his usual acting element. He doesn’t add much to the film.

What’s most interesting about this film is the fact that everything is stereotypical – the down-and-out, drunk, has-been country singer, the girl who knows it’s bad to get involved with him but does, the agent who wears either a bathrobe or snakeskin boots, the protégé who’s now more successful than his mentor – but it all works perfectly. Each character is played so true to what they represent, you forget about the stereotypes and are genuinely interested in the story line. This is a true feat of the actors – bringing soul to characters that could have easily been empty shells.

7 out of 10 sandwiches and a likely Oscar for Jeff Bridges.

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