As Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) sits down at a bar in The Spare Room, a bowling alley somewhere in mid-America, one cannot help but conjure up images of the Coen Brothers’ cult classic, The Big Lebowski. “The Dude” has four Oscar nominations under his belt (no wins), and has worked in just about every genre imaginable. It’s been a long road for Bridges, who has a career spanning over 50 years, but with Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight), Bridges gives his magnum opus.
Crazy Heart marks the directorial debut of Scott Cooper, who adapted the screenplay from the novel by Thomas Cobb. The film follows the story of an aging country legend who goes by the name of Bad Blake. Once a superstar in his genre, he is now relegated to playing in roadhouses, bars and bowling alleys. Bad goes through the motions, trying to make enough money to support his alcoholism and chain smoking.
While playing a show in Santa Fe, Bad agrees to give an interview to reporter Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight). Jean is a single mother who has admittedly made a lot of mistakes in her life. Bad, who has his own share of troubles (including four ex-wives and an estranged son), is intrigued by the woman, and they form an odd relationship. However, Bad has to keep his life together and change his ways, or he will risk losing everything.
Crazy Heart is a formulaic film. The characters, scenarios and storyline have been done before in other films, and cinephiles may draw comparisons to 2008’s The Wrestler. However, what makes Crazy Heart so special is that it does the formula well. Combined with serviceable turns by Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall (The Road) as Wayne, an old bartender friend of Bad’s, along with an adept script, Bridge’s performance elevates the material to heights that most films rarely achieve.
Special mention has to be made of Colin Farrell. In a supporting turn as Tommy Sweet, a popular young country star who learned everything he knew from Bad, Farrell gives an earnest and surprising performance. The Irish-born actor even proves he has the pipes of an American country singer with his rendition of “The Weary Kind,” an original song that serves as the theme of Crazy Heart. It is one of many original songs written for the film by Stephen Bruton and T-Bone Burnett.
Like Farrell, Bridges proves an adept singer throughout the several songs that Bad sings in the movie.         Even with its clichés and familiar premise, Crazy Heart is a movie no film lover can afford to miss. Bridges should have no trouble nabbing the Oscar this season.