Crazy Heart (Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall) – Jeff Bridges gives a magnificent performance as a country singer who is long past his prime and an old 57 years old. He drinks way too much, floats from town to town, plays at bowling alleys and bars, and has long since given up writing new material. “Bad” Blake was a legend in his heyday and served as mentor to Tommy Sweet, the film’s version of Toby Keith, Keith Urban or the many young country singers I can’t tell apart. Played incredibly well and to my amazement by Irishman Colin Farrell, Tommy has left Bad behind but hasn’t forgotten his mentor. He wants Bad to write for him and, if that works out, perhaps do an album and tour together. Bad needs the money, the hope and the redemption. At a stop in New Mexico, he does an interview with a local journalist, Jean Craddock, a single mother who falls quickly for Bad’s quiet charm. Maggie Gyllenhaal, always reliable and quickly becoming a queen of indie films, is at her best here although the age difference with Bad would seemingly be insurmountable. Bad falls hard but he can’t exorcise his demons.
The film is a treat for fans of indie flicks. Bridges will likely get an Academy Award nomination. A nomination for Farrell’s small role, where he mastered a southern accent, sings his own country songs, and plays way against type would make me proud of the Academy. The film is the first directorial effort of character actor Scott Cooper, who also wrote and co-produced the film. Cooper recently received a Writers Guild of America nomination for adapted screenplay (from a Thomas Cobb novel). Bridges was one of the executive producers. Bridges was one of the executive producers; Robert Duvall, who plays Bad’s long-time friend, is a producer; and so is T-Bone Burnett, who wrote the film’s best song, The Weary Kind. My insider at the San Diego Film Society, Paula Book, went to a preview of the film where Cooper spoke of his astonishment at the hype around the film. Finished just in November, Crazy Heart appears to have been rush-released for the Oscar season, and it deserved to be.
Other than the slow pacing of the film, which might have been intentional, Crazy Heart is a lovely piece of art that features actors of stunning skill. Hearing Bridges and Farrell sing a duet qualifies as the oddest pairing in recent history, but it is excellent (particularly if you like country music). If and when this “little film” makes it to your town, make sure you see it … or at least rent it when it becomes available.