![Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"](http://mainecampus.bangorpublishing.netdna-cdn.com/files/2010/04/bridges-crazy-heart.jpg "Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart\"")
Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
“Crazy Heart” could be seen as the country music version of “The Wrestler”: a grizzled veteran whose days in the spotlight are behind him struggles to keep going while seeing the world through a haze of regret and booze. The story is unremarkable; the alcoholic coming to terms with an addiction and striving to overcome the odds has been seen many times.
What elevates “Crazy Heart” is a fascinating performance by Jeff Bridges, who recently won a Best Actor Oscar for his work. Not to take anything away from Bridges’ co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal, or supporting performers Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell, but everything that is compelling about “Crazy Heart” is filtered through Bridges. He, more than the story or the direction of first-time filmmaker Scott Cooper or T-Bone Burnett’s country/western songs, is the primary reason to see this film.
Bridges is Bad Blake, a washed-up country singer who has fallen far from his one-time A-list perch. He tours the southwest, stopping in bowling alleys and bars to do sets primarily because he needs the money, but also because, without the gigs, he would have nothing else to do with his life. His means of transportation is a beat-up pickup truck, and his rare moments of sobriety are confined to the early mornings. A long line of one-night stands defines Bad’s love life, typically with women whose names he doesn’t know and whose faces he can’t remember. That changes, however, with Jean Craddock, played by Gyllenhaal, a journalist he meets in Santa Fe. Inexplicably, she’s as attracted to him as he is to her, and they embark upon a relationship. But the specter of Bad’s alcoholic tendencies hangs like a pall over his every action, and one senses it’s only a matter of time before he screws things up.
When one considers show business, the sad truth is stories like Bad’s are a dime a dozen. His story is not unique; in fact, it’s a near-perfect cliché, right down to the neglected son and the chance at a fresh start. The pattern is pretty much the same one we saw Mickey Rourke’s character navigate during the course of “The Wrestler.” However, this ends on a note that is far less nihilistic.
As so often been the case throughout his career, Bridges becomes the character. He buries himself so thoroughly in the role that there’s nothing of the actor remaining. His intensity is unflagging, his attention to detail exacting. He gets everything right, from the slow, deliberate pace of someone carrying around more weight than his 57 years to the dead look in his eyes – a sign of someone who has given up. Yet, on those occasions when he picks up a guitar and lets his fingers dance across the strings, some vestige of who he once was is awakened. The other actors in “Crazy Heart” do their jobs, but this is Bridges’ film.
The film’s music is also a highlight, particularly “The Weary Kind,” the tune Bad writes over the course of the film. It works as more than just a soulful ballad written for the screen, becoming something that can be easily added to one’s rotation of music without only evoking memories of the film. Bridges sings it beautifully, and it was no surprise to see it win the award for Best Original Song.
Ultimately, “Crazy Heart” doesn’t add anything new to this particular sub-genre, but it is still a worthy entry. Bridges’ work keeps it from becoming a forgettable film. Well crafted and smartly performed, this is a film that certainly deserves to be seen.
Grade: B+
