Using the Five W's to tell you what a film is all about.
Crazy Heart
WHO: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall
WHAT: A fictional biopic mashup of an aging country singer-songwriter, based loosely on the lives of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard.
WHEN: Present Day
WHERE: Southwest America
WHY SEE IT: One, for the music. If your heart isn’t ripped from your chest as you listen to Bad Blake pen one country masterpiece after another, you may want to check your pulse. T-Bone Burnett, the producer/songwriter who was responsible for the Grammy-award winning O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, composed much of the music for the film.
And two, for Jeff Bridges. His Oscar-nominated performance reminds us that old dogs don’t always need to learn new tricks. You can practically smell the whiskey on his breath as he seduces one woman after another with his sun-scorched charm and wit. And he makes you feel his hurt as he battles the demons of regret and alcoholism while struggling to stay artistically relevant at the risk of losing everything.
FINAL GRADE: B+
