”I’m Bad Blake. My tombstone will have my real name on it, until then I’m just gonna stay Bad.”
The joke has always been that good country music is always about getting drunk or getting divorced. For country crooner Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), he’s pretty much lived his life as a prototypical country tune. He’s always got a bottle of booze in his hand, a line of ex-wives, and nothing in his bank account. He wears a cowboy hat and faded jeans with the belt buckle loosened to let his belly hang out. Blake used to be a big deal, but now he’s relegated to playing dive bars and bowling alleys. Thankfully, no nihilists come looking for their money.
So Blake crisscrosses the roads in his pick ‘em up truck alone. Poetically, he and the truck are a lot alike: old, beat-up, and worn down with a lot of mileage. While Bad Blake seems destined to fade away into obscurity, his one-time protégé Tommy Sweet (an uncredited Colin Farrell) has risen in fame. He finds solace in the arms of a small-time journalist and single mom, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Blake falls in love with her and bonds with her 4-year old son, Buddy (Jack Nation), receiving a new lease on life.
Actor Scott Cooper makes his debut as writer/director in this adaptation of a 1987 novel by Thomas Cobb. The story is an overly familiar one and Crazy Heart certainly feels like The Wrestler with music instead of wrestling. What makes the film succeed is the mere presence of Jeff Bridges who netted an Oscar for his performance. His Bad Blake is Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr., and Kris Kristofferson all rolled into one, yet he’s also undoubtedly Jeff Bridges. There’s an easygoing charm to him that makes Blake so instantly likeable, it’s hard to hate him even when he’s being a drunken screw-up. As grizzled as Bridges is, he’s out-grizzled by Robert Duvall, master of the grizzled, in a role not to far removed from Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies. Surprisingly, Irishman Colin Farrell makes a convincing
In addition to the excellent cast, the film is elevated by a fantastic soundtrack featuring original songs by the late-Stephen Bruton and T-Bone Burnett, who also contributed to the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? Bridges and Farrell croon several great tracks like “I Don’t Know” and “Fallin’ & Flyin’,” while Ryan Bingham sings the movie’s theme song, “The Weary Kind.”
Rating: ***
No comments:
Post a Comment