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After 35 years as a movie star, Jeff Bridges finally won an Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar for his performance in Crazy Heart, a rather somber and slow-moving drama with music that is pretty much a rehash of better movies of the past, primarily 1983's Tender Mercies.
The film, produced, written, and directed by Scott Cooper and based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, stars Bridges as Bad Blake (one of the worst character names ever, but a minor problem compared to the rest of the movie), an alcoholic country singer whose best days are definitely behind him, who takes way too long to reassess the mess his life and career have become, despite the possibility of a new beginning with an attractive young writer (Maggie Gyllenhaal) with a young son.
As mentioned, the film bears more than a passing resemblance to Tender Mercies because Mac Sledge, that film's main character, was also a faded country star except that Sledge knows from the beginning of the movie that his music career is a thing of the past, unlike Blake, who is deeply in denial about the fact and because he wants to sustain his career on his own terms, he continually ignores career lifelines that are thrown to him as well as ignoring the circumstances of his lifestyle.
Cooper's cliche-ridden screenplay delivers a lot of negative and unflattering messages and tries to provide easy fixes. I was troubled by Blake ignoring a doctor's warning to stop drinking but after breaking up with Gyllenhaal's character over his own actions, suddenly decides that he wants to get sober. I'm so over alcoholic movie characters who decide to get sober for the wrong reasons...getting sober only works if the alcoholic is doing it for himself and no one else.
Bridges delivers a solid performance in the lead role, but I think this Oscar was a "Body of Work" Oscar, honoring the actor for his career because he has definitely done better work (Fearless, The Door in the Floor, and The Contender come to mind). Gyllenhaal makes the most of an underwritten role and I personally didn't feel a lot of chemistry with Bridges but Colin Farrell is fine as a current country superstar who tries to help Blake and the Tender Mercies comparison is driven home with a brief appearance from that film's star, Robert Duvall, who also served as one of the producers, which surprised me as I can't believe he didn't see the parallels between this film and his 1983 triumph.
As a big Jeff Bridges fan, I was hugely disappointed by this film that was sadly just a rehash of better films of the past and my rating is based purely on my respect for the film's star.
After 35 years as a movie star, Jeff Bridges finally won an Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar for his performance in Crazy Heart, a rather somber and slow-moving drama with music that is pretty much a rehash of better movies of the past, primarily 1983's Tender Mercies.
The film, produced, written, and directed by Scott Cooper and based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, stars Bridges as Bad Blake (one of the worst character names ever, but a minor problem compared to the rest of the movie), an alcoholic country singer whose best days are definitely behind him, who takes way too long to reassess the mess his life and career have become, despite the possibility of a new beginning with an attractive young writer (Maggie Gyllenhaal) with a young son.
As mentioned, the film bears more than a passing resemblance to Tender Mercies because Mac Sledge, that film's main character, was also a faded country star except that Sledge knows from the beginning of the movie that his music career is a thing of the past, unlike Blake, who is deeply in denial about the fact and because he wants to sustain his career on his own terms, he continually ignores career lifelines that are thrown to him as well as ignoring the circumstances of his lifestyle.
Cooper's cliche-ridden screenplay delivers a lot of negative and unflattering messages and tries to provide easy fixes. I was troubled by Blake ignoring a doctor's warning to stop drinking but after breaking up with Gyllenhaal's character over his own actions, suddenly decides that he wants to get sober. I'm so over alcoholic movie characters who decide to get sober for the wrong reasons...getting sober only works if the alcoholic is doing it for himself and no one else.
Bridges delivers a solid performance in the lead role, but I think this Oscar was a "Body of Work" Oscar, honoring the actor for his career because he has definitely done better work (Fearless, The Door in the Floor, and The Contender come to mind). Gyllenhaal makes the most of an underwritten role and I personally didn't feel a lot of chemistry with Bridges but Colin Farrell is fine as a current country superstar who tries to help Blake and the Tender Mercies comparison is driven home with a brief appearance from that film's star, Robert Duvall, who also served as one of the producers, which surprised me as I can't believe he didn't see the parallels between this film and his 1983 triumph.
As a big Jeff Bridges fan, I was hugely disappointed by this film that was sadly just a rehash of better films of the past and my rating is based purely on my respect for the film's star.