Crazy Heart

Oh, the Oscars - the standard by which seemingly everyone judges excellence in film. Even critics, who are supposed to discuss the actual elements of the film and their merits, are usually reduced to just saying things like, "...deserves an Oscar". It's a shortcut to thinking. It's a dubious goal to be achieved. It's cornball shit. Some movies seem tailor made for the Academy Award. Movies where aging favorites play characters on a desperate path toward redemption. 'Crazy Heart' can't help seeming like one of these movies. Here, Jeff Bridges plays 'Bad' Blake, a 57 year old country legend who's never had the kind of big break to make him as popular as his contemporaries. He travels from town to town, bowling alley to bar, and dazzles everyone in his path who just can't believe he's actually there playing in front of him. Of course, there's a reason he is. He's a pretty serious alcoholic, one who goes into withdrawal after a casual afternoon at the park. One who stumbles off stage mid-song to puke in the trashcan out back. It's pretty clear early on in the film that 'Bad's' bad fortune is his own doin'.

Then a couple things happen to him. His ex-protege, who has become a big star in modern country, wants to reconnect with him, which could prove quite lucrative. Also, his one night stand with a pretty, young reporter turns into a long distance romance with her and her young son. Is he ready to put his 'bad' ways behind him, or is he just 'bad'. Forgive the overuse of the opposite of good, but his nickname gets thrown around in such ridiculous ways that you wonder if they're trying to be funny. Lines like, "That's good, Bad", and, "Hi, I'm Bad". Much in the same way, you can't help wondering if director Scott Cooper is trying to make a movie for Oscar talk and the theatrical trailer. In one sequence, his pretty, young reporter (an over-the-top Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her son run into his arms a-la Cameron Crowe after an exhilarating hot-air balloon ride. It's seems made for the trailers ("Oh, things were SO good back then"), as does the inevitable road trip-country music montages. The direction the film takes are just as easy targets as everything else

That doesn't make 'Crazy Heart' particularly unenjoyable though. Cooper gives us an often unforgiving look at the locales, the dive bars, the empty bowling alleys, and the darkened rooms Bad drinks in as the sun pours through the blinds. Bridges does here, less subtly, what he did in the underrated 'The Fabulous Baker Boys'. It's a bleak performance, but one charmed by his sense of humor, his chops as a musician, and his lived-in feel for heartbreak. I would've given him the oscar for 'Starman' or 'Fearless', but this'll do. Also, I wouldn't say I'm coming around on country, but the songs are effortlessly likable. Good to see Robert Duvall.