When Jeff Bridges got up at the Golden Globes to accept the award for Best Actor in a Drama for his role in
Crazy Heart, he may have started to shed his reputation as the most underappreciated actor in Hollywood. It was his first win at the Golden Globes after three previous nominations. He has also been nominated four times for an Oscar (
The Last Picture Show,
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,
Starman, and
The Contender) without winning. He wasn't even nominated for some of his great signature roles like
Tron,
The Fabulous Baker Boys and
The Big Lebowski. In
Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays a down and out country singer, Bad Blake. He is down on his luck, to say the least, and is driving from town to town playing at bars and drinking. In one small town, he is interviewed by a local reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is divorced with a small son. A rocky romance ensues. Meanwhile, Bridges tries to get his life together with help from his best friend (Robert Duvall) and a younger performer (Colin Farrell) that he helped on the way up.
On paper, this plot of this movie is a hackneyed stereotype of the hard-drinking, hard-living country singer with has lots of talent but has become an old-broken down alcoholic who is performing at bowling alleys. But
Crazy Heart rises above the stereotype, thanks to Jeff Bridges, the rest of the wonderful supporting cast, and some great music composed by T-Bone Burnett. Bridges performs the songs himself. The director of
Crazy Heart is Scott Cooper, yet another first time director. This film certainly has the feel of an indie movie despite the A-list cast.
I love, love, love Jeff Bridges. He is one of my favorite actors. He really inhabits a role and gives it a life with energy. His characters are always struggling with setbacks in life and are tinged with some sadness, whether it is an alien in a human body in
Starman, The Dude in
The Big Lebowski, or one half of a brother pianist act in
The Fabulous Baker Boys. In
Crazy Heart, he has found another such role and he handles it perfectly.
Crazy Heart is a tale of redemption, but also of realism. His character is struggling to get his life back together, and he makes some progress, but by the end of the movie the jury is still out on whether he will succeed.
Crazy Heart involves a May-September romance like so many of movies do. But Bridges' relationship with Maggie Gyllenhaal seems very real, and it founders on the rocks as it must. Robert Duvall is good as always as Bridges' down-home best buddie, in a role almost as small as he had in
The Road. And Colin Farrell does a nice almost cameo as Bridges' protege
who has gone on to stardom but still remembers his roots. Farrell is Irish, but he fits into the British tradition of big stars doing character roles and doing them very well.
Crazy Heart is the story of a musician and it never would have been believable if it didn't have his music. So, T-Bone Burnett composed a whole bunch of songs that become the 30-year repertoire of an Bad Blake. And it all works because Bridges can play the guitar and sing the songs. I'm not a country fan but the soundtrack is great. And so is Bridges' performance which may win him his first Oscar. This movie is still in the theatres. You should see it if you can.
When Jeff Bridges got up at the Golden Globes to accept the award for Best Actor in a Drama for his role in Crazy Heart, he may have started to shed his reputation as the most underappreciated actor in Hollywood. It was his first win at the Golden Globes after three previous nominations. He has also been nominated four times for an Oscar (The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, and The Contender) without winning. He wasn't even nominated for some of his great signature roles like Tron, The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Big Lebowski. In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays a down and out country singer, Bad Blake. He is down on his luck, to say the least, and is driving from town to town playing at bars and drinking. In one small town, he is interviewed by a local reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is divorced with a small son. A rocky romance ensues. Meanwhile, Bridges tries to get his life together with help from his best friend (Robert Duvall) and a younger performer (Colin Farrell) that he helped on the way up.
On paper, this plot of this movie is a hackneyed stereotype of the hard-drinking, hard-living country singer with has lots of talent but has become an old-broken down alcoholic who is performing at bowling alleys. But Crazy Heart rises above the stereotype, thanks to Jeff Bridges, the rest of the wonderful supporting cast, and some great music composed by T-Bone Burnett. Bridges performs the songs himself. The director of Crazy Heart is Scott Cooper, yet another first time director. This film certainly has the feel of an indie movie despite the A-list cast.
I love, love, love Jeff Bridges. He is one of my favorite actors. He really inhabits a role and gives it a life with energy. His characters are always struggling with setbacks in life and are tinged with some sadness, whether it is an alien in a human body in Starman, The Dude in The Big Lebowski, or one half of a brother pianist act in The Fabulous Baker Boys. In Crazy Heart, he has found another such role and he handles it perfectly. 
Crazy Heart is a tale of redemption, but also of realism. His character is struggling to get his life back together, and he makes some progress, but by the end of the movie the jury is still out on whether he will succeed. Crazy Heart involves a May-September romance like so many of movies do. But Bridges' relationship with Maggie Gyllenhaal seems very real, and it founders on the rocks as it must. Robert Duvall is good as always as Bridges' down-home best buddie, in a role almost as small as he had in The Road. And Colin Farrell does a nice almost cameo as Bridges' protege who has gone on to stardom but still remembers his roots. Farrell is Irish, but he fits into the British tradition of big stars doing character roles and doing them very well. 
Crazy Heart is the story of a musician and it never would have been believable if it didn't have his music. So, T-Bone Burnett composed a whole bunch of songs that become the 30-year repertoire of an Bad Blake. And it all works because Bridges can play the guitar and sing the songs. I'm not a country fan but the soundtrack is great. And so is Bridges' performance which may win him his first Oscar. This movie is still in the theatres. You should see it if you can.
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