Review: Crazy Heart (2009)
March 10th 2010 03:00
Crazy Heart (2009, Cooper)
Written March 9, 2010
It’s difficult to watch Crazy Heart and not compare it to something else. Take 2009’s Trucker, for example. Both films are character studies of broken human beings who begin to change due to certain events and circumstances. Another unavoidable comparison is 2008’s The Wrestler. Both contain aging, washed-up men who were once at the top of their craft and now struggle for work and attention. Both men encounter women who begin to give their life meaning. Both men have drinking problems. Both men are in poor health. Both men are estranged from their children. I could go on, but you get my point: Crazy Heart is not an original concept. However, it works on nearly level to the point that we don’t care. This is something Trucker could not do; the audience is too acutely aware of the familiarity of the story and the events occurring within were not complex enough to be entirely engaging. Crazy Heart, on the other hand, is well-executed and highly entertaining (any movie that makes country music interesting is always a success to me. Nashville, anyone?)
Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges in his Oscar winning role), is a washed-up 57-year-old country music star who plays gigs at bowling alleys and dive bars with randomly assigned pick-up bands and travels in his old jeep. We learn pieces of Bad’s past sporadically. For example, he used to be in a band with country music superstar Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). In fact, he gave Tommy his start but he doesn’t like to talk about him much. Bad meets a local reporter at a gig in Santa Fe and begins to see her. Her name is Jane (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and she has a 4-year-old son. Later, we learn Bad abandoned his own son at age 4. This is a rather pivotal piece of information; no doubt Bad truly does care about Jane but the way he takes to her son lends to the idea that he’s trying to do right by a mirror image of someone he walked out on years prior. In a great scene, Bad calls his now 28-year-old son in an attempt to reconnect.
The best thing about Crazy Heart is the conscious choice writer/director Scott Cooper did not make with regard to the relationship between Bad and Tommy. Cooper could have easily made Tommy the evil young prodigy who milked his mentor for fame and left him when he felt he was too good for him. The film subsequently could have morphed into Bad’s desire to overcome adversity and fate and reclaim his place at the top. In other words: an incredibly contrived, boring, predictable tale. Cooper didn’t. Instead, he created a wonderful, caring character in Tommy Sweet. We watch Tommy as he sits with Bad at a bar. A fan approaches Tommy for an autograph. Tommy obliges but not before stating that Bad’s autograph is the one the guy should be asking for. On numerous occasions, Tommy tells his audience and his fans that Bad Blake taught him everything he knows and would be nowhere without him. Tommy cares about Blake, respects him, and has no ego to speak of. This is perhaps one of the most refreshing decisions that could have been made in a film such as this and Cooper delivers tenfold.
Bridges gives a rich, multi-layered performance. Again, it’s nothing groundbreaking; especially not after Mickey Rourke’s last year, but it is certainly emotional and dedicated. Gyllenhaal’s performance was a standout in the film. She took what could have been a contrived, throw away role and made it into something entirely her own. The film does focuses on Jane’s own relationship issues and her struggle to be with someone like Blake but it is Gyllenhaal’s delivery of these scenes and her palpable emotions that turn her character into something truly great.
Because of all the things Crazy Heart does not do, and because of how much it does well, Crazy Heart is a cut above average the redemption character dramas. It never reaches the quality of The Wrestler, but it is still an appealing world to visit for a couple of hours.
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