Jeff Bridges to me has been a mystery for a long time. He is referred to as one of the legends in Hollywood, but I just haven't felt the same, till now. Before 'Crazy Heart', I knew him from 'The Big Lebowski', 'Iron Man', 'Tron', 'Starman', and a few others. The only film that I had seen him in and stood out was 'The Big Lebowski'. He is playing a role for the upcoming Cohen Brothers' film 'True Grit', my most anticipated film of the year.Crazy Heart was truly a great character study done well by about everyone in the film, I don't want to say everyone because there might have been an extra somewhere in the midst that didn't fulfill the role. Really great acting throughout the piece. I have zero interest in country music or the life of a country musician but for 2 hours he made me desire it. The music itself in the film was good and performed even better.
The story of the movie was far above average and easily justifiable to add to the 10 nominations list at the Academy for 'Best Picture'. 'The Blind Side', 'Up', 'District 9', and 'Avatar' all polluted the 10 nominations which Crazy Heart deserved.
The film is carried by ridiculously good acting, with a good casting choice. There are just a couple sensual scenes, but no nudity. The film should still be avoided by anyone 17 and under.
There were several moments of the film that I had to pause the footage and just say "wow". There were so many scenes which screamed perfection in translating from paper to camera. The story will take you into a life of a drunken has been and all the glory that comes with it, to happy moments, and then take you to awkward old groupie moments.
There really isn't much to say negatively about the film other than some sensual scenes that could have been either cut or edited to be less sensual, but overall this appears to be a film with a prefect take on what was written. The film will not rock your socks, it probably won't reach the top 5 list of 2009, but it is surely a great investment of 2 hours to film.
"Crazy Heart"
8 / 10
8 / 10
