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The
plight of the
country music star
isn’t an easy one.
See Dewey Cox and
Johnny Cash. Add Bad
Blake to the list of
troubled country
stars getting their
own movies… err…
well to the Dewey
Cox list of
fictional country
music starts to get
their own movies.
Jeff Bridges turns
in the performance
of his life as Bad
Blake in
Crazy
Heart.
Lots of movies can
create settings and
their own
‘universes’, few
movies can create
people that you
believe actually
exist by the end of
the movie.
Everything in
Crazy
Heart
feels real. That’s
due to the story,
that’s due to
direction, and it’s
due to Jeff Bridges
and the supporting
cast being casted
amazingly well and
then embodying their
characters as good,
if not better than
any movie to be
released in recent
memory.
Bad
Blake is a bad dude.
He’s an alcoholic.
He has been his
entire life. When
you work in bars and
spend most of your
life around that
much booze, that can
happen. That’s Bad
Blake. That’s how he
started his career
and he never changed
his habits once he
got big. The only
thing that changed
through Bad’s life
was everything
around him. The
world of country
music passed him by.
Now
he plays small bars
and bowling alleys.
That’s who he is and
what he does. He’s
out on the road
constantly and has a
few people he can
call friends that he
never sees. He
doesn’t really have
anybody, until he
finds a music
reporter in New
Mexico (Maggie
Gyllenhaal) and gets
close to her and her
young son. Bad’s
habits are still
present though. He’s
drunk all the time
and he’s unreliable.
He’s not someone
that can be around a
four year old kid
for long periods of
time. Bad has to
change. That’s what
Crazy
Heart
is about.
As
mentioned before
Crazy
Heart’s
strength is it’s
characters and the
actors chosen to
play them. Jeff
Bridges gets the
perfect role of his
career and takes
advantage of it. By
the end of the movie
you’re not watching
Jeff Bridges play
Bad Blake. You’re
watching Bad Blake.
Bridges does that
the best out of all
of the actors in the
movie but every
other actor
accomplishes this
task too. You
believe that Maggie
Gyllenhall is Jane
Craddock, a
struggling single
mom from New Mexico.
You believe that
Colin Farrell is
booming country
artist that was
mentored by Bad
Blake. And you
believe that Robert
Duvall is a bar
owner in Houston.
All of these actors
turn into their
characters and it
makes
Crazy
Heart
a joy to watch.
Crazy
Heart
isn’t a movie you’ll
watch over and over
but it’s a movie
you’ll watch from
time to time so it’s
worthy to pick up
for purchase and not
just rent. Jeff
Bridges performance
in the lead role is
amazing and his
supporting cast is
almost as good.
Everything lined up
perfectly with this
movie and it turns
into an amazing film
that everybody who
does anything with
the music industry
should watch.
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