20th Century Fox | 2009 | 112 mins. | Rated R
Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) doesn´t just write and sing great country songs, he lives them. Bad drives a beat up pickup truck, has four ex wives, an estranged son, and really likes his bourbon. And as for money, well, as Bad says: “I´m 57, I´m broke, I got ten dollars in my pocket.
If that sounds like an old familiar song, you´re right. 1983’s Tender Mercies covered much the same ground, with Robert Duvall in the title role. It is probably no small coincidence that Robert Duvall produces and plays a supporting role in Crazy Heart. However, much like the oft remade film A Star Is Born, hearing the tale of a broken down singer seems to be something audiences never get tired of.
Based on a novel by Thomas Cobb and written and directed by first-timer Scott Cooper, Crazy Heart tells us Bad Blake’s story. Professionally, he’s a mess. While he used to enjoy an illustrious career as a country music star, it has been a quite while since those days of glory. Now reduced to playing gigs at bowling alleys and dive bars, he can no longer land dates at the big arenas. Always a talented songwriter, Bad knows he needs new music to revive his career; problem is, he doesn’t have any ideas. To make matters worse, Bad’s protégé Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), has achieved a level of mainstream success he never did.
All in all, Bad’s life is at a dead end and it’s nobody’s fault but his own. A silver lining appears when, as a favor to one of his fans, Blake agrees to be interviewed by a young and ambitious newspaper reporter named Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal). She finds herself unexpectedly attracted to the singer, and the two soon begin a romance. Jean has a 4-year-old son, with whom Bad forms a close relationship. Can Bad clean himself up and get his career back on track before his demons do him in?
Bad Blake is a role Jeff Bridges seems born to play. It’s impossible to separate the actor from the character; Bridges reveals every small nuance of Bad as the story unfolds. Crazy Heart isn’t a film filled with big dramatic flourishes, but rather subtle edges. Since the film begins after Bad has hit rock bottom, Bridges wisely avoids wide emotional ranges for the character, instead focusing on the small nuances that signal change. After all, Bad Blake is to beat down by life to be overly excited by anything.
The rest of the cast is solid as well. With Robert Duvall, it’s like watching his character from Tender Mercies serve as a mentor to Bad Blake. Though his role as Wayne the bartender is small, Duvall manages to give his character great insight in limited time. Maggie Gyllenhaal is fine as Bridges’ love interest, a smart, professional woman who falls for this train wreck of an old man. Though I have to admit, I didn’t think their chemistry was that convincing.
Farrell (in an uncredited role) is only in a few scenes, but their important ones. Tommy Sweet is a pretty boy, a man who looks more like he came out of the Hollywood studio system then the honkytonks of country music. Thankfully, Sweet isn’t an egotist who’s forgotten where he came from; he genuinely wants to help his mentor, even if the older man rejects it.
A former actor, writer/director Scott Cooper does a remarkable job in his debut behind the camera. He has an unusually strong connection with the actors evident by their vulnerability and connection with the camera. Both Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal bare their souls on screen, and the results are notable. It’s easy to see why Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for a role that’s been played before; he hits every note and subtlety throughout.
With a backdrop of Texas and New Mexico, Crazy Heart goes out of its way to look dusty and gritty. And with the exception of a few scenes at an aquarium and a couple of shots of the Houston skyline, Bad’s world is fairly dark. The rundown hotel rooms and musty bars and dives don’t offer many opportunities for this high definition transfer to shine. This 1.85:1 framed film looks more depressing than beautiful, but that fits the story. Detail is good, but the colors and contrast are overblown to make everything look warm and give the feeling that it´s warm in Santa Fe and Houston. Shadow detail isn’t as sharp during some of the darker scenes, but at other times you can count every gray hair on Jeff Bridges beard. While I wouldn’t call this a great transfer it’s certainly better than average.
If you’re looking for a reason to spend a few extra dollars on the Blu-ray as opposed to the DVD, the audio is a solid reason. The best sounding scene in the film is when Bad is tuning the sound of his hired band for the soundcheck to open for Tommy Sweet. This scene sounds great and you can hear the instruments quite clearly. The English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is pushed even further when Bad performs in front of the large crowd, but the soundcheck points out the contrast in the quality sound nix. Jeff Bridges vocals and all other dialogue is clear and concise throughout.
As with the DVD I reviewed earlier, the Blu-ray for Crazy Heart doesn’t offer that many special features.
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Music Cuts (SD, 28:22) There are three different music cuts here, along with seven deleted scenes, the most interesting of which shows Bad reuniting with his son.
• Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Robert Duvall on What Brought Them to Crazy Heart (1080i, 3:02) A commentary with these three would have been great; instead we get a brief interview.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:55)
• A digital copy of the movie.
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