Promenade Movie Review

"Crazy Heart"

Acting of Jeff Bridges; script

Put "heart" into familiar theme

Movie Review by Susan Lazarus and Ray Brasted

You don't have to like country music to like this movie, but it helps. Jeff Bridges, one of our favorite and, we believe, sometimes undervalued actor, shines in the role of Bad Blake in the movie "Crazy Heart".

Bridges melds into the personality of a talented, but aging country singer on the skids. We first meet him, drunk and his pants unbuckled, driving to his next gig at a bowling alley. We are looking at a man who was once famous enough that people immediately recognize him. They know his songs and want to hear them over and over. But his life is as empty as the terrain of the vast southwestern states he drives through on his way to each job.

Booze, cigarettes and sometimes aging female groupies are his companions and he hasn't written or recorded a hit song in years. Got the picture? This would be a somewhat stereotypical movie of aging star in a downward life spiral if it weren't for the acting of Bridges who channels singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who would have been perfect for the role a few years back.

Who can change his life? Not his agent. Not the young country superstar he mentored. He has no family, no friends and is killing himself. Hmmm. Maybe a woman could turn his life around.

Enter Jean (played by a coquettish Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is a reporter seeking to interview Bad for her newspaper. They have chemistry and she isn't turned off by his cigarette and booze breath or slept-in clothes. Or the fact he is more than twenty years older than her and she has a four-year-old son who needs a father figure in his life. Bad doesn't have a chance. He is totally captivated.

Their relationship hangs together out of genuine love and also their own individual need to find a future. We watch Bad struggle with being a responsible person while trying to reunite with his fan base with the encouragement of the young singer he helped to fame (played by a miscast, but adequate, Colin Farrell). But will the 57-year-old Bad work it all out before he keels over for good?

He has the help of the always dead-on actor, Robert Duvall, who  provides wisdom, support and friendship as an old friend. Duvall was one of the producers of the movie and his part probably wasn't necessary to film, but the on-screen time between Bridges and Duvall offered up some nice moments.

Finally we learn that Bridges can sing. He does his own vocals and was totally believable in the roll of a former star trying to find his long lost center. Sounds like a story line for a song. Maybe call it Crazy Heart, or something like that.

Although we start out thinking we know the outcome of each scene, the script doesn't take the easy way out and we are kept guessing what will happen next.

You will like Crazy Heart.

Ed. Note: Crazy Heart was written and directed by Scott Cooper. Producers, in addition to Robert Duvall were Scott Cooper, Judy Cairo and Rob Carliner. It screened at Cinema Paradio, Fort Lauderdale's year-around Art Theater which features movies, special events and programs. Learn more by visiting their web site at www.fliff.com.