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New Movie Review: Crazy Heart By Laura Cantwell  |
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As glamorous as it seems, the life of a rock star isn’t just platinum records and sold out arenas. The movie Crazy Heart examines the anti-climatic comeback of the legendary Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges). After his journey from bowling alleys to center stage, audience members may wonder if in fact Bad truly knows where he wants to be at the end.
At first, Bad appears to be a whiskey-drinking cowboy whose life appears to be as barren as the desert road he travels upon. His first show of the movie takes place at a run down bowling alley where all his status gets him is unlimited bowling. Blake tours the South in his trusty 78’ Chevy Silverado, nicknamed Bessie, playing the same tired songs every night while adamantly cursing out his agent Wayne because he’s old, run-down, and broke as hell.
Things look as if they are going to change when he meets Jean (Maggie Gyllenhall), a young reporter who wants to interview him. As they get to know each other, their relationship evolves into something romantic. Blake starts spending all of his free time with her and bonding with her son, Buddy. The former county star’s change seems to become apparent when he reestablishes the relationship with his old bandmate Tommy (Colin Farrell), whom his also mentored. His only vices seem to be constantly drinking and smoking, which lead to problems in their relationship.
The movie concludes with him regaining former success and supposedly his ability to move on from his past.
There are many things about this movie that didn’t seem to add up. In my opinion, the character of Bad seemed to have remained the same despite everything he had gone through. In the beginning when Bad is angrily but comedically chewing out Wayne, Bad appears to be the hard-nosed cowboy his name connotes. However, the movie abandons Bad’s character evolution by simply dumbing him down into a child-loving family man in a mere two scenes. Secondly, the later half of the movie leaves the viewer questioning Blake’s actual beliefs and the whole moral of the movie. You leave the film wondering the importance of certain scenes because of their lack of cohesion with the story. For example, he calls his long lost son to make amends but no further action takes place in the film. After a car accident, a doctor tells Bad that his lifestyle is killing him, yet it’s Jean’s reaction to his drunken personality that initiates his “change”. Lastly, Bad loses Buddy because he is “drunk”, but the audience only sees him take one sip out of a drink before this occurs. All in all, like Bad’s career, the movie started on a high note but then ends tired and abruptly.
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