Crazy Heart (2009)

Jeff Bridges.  I like Jeff Bridges.  Look at him, isn't he lovely?

Directed by Scott Cooper
Written by Scott Cooper, Thomas Cobb (novel)
Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell




I like Jeff Bridges.  Doesn't everyone like Jeff Bridges?  There's something comforting about his name appearing in the titles of a film, and more so as he gets older, as he grows into a fine vintage of bearded gentility.  There always was something about The Dude that suited Bridges, easy-going, charming, likeable; as the man says in The Big Lebowski, 'he fits right in there'.  Jeff Bridges, an actor who fits right in.

Anyway, there's a point to all this, and it's not really anything to do with The Big Lebowski.  It's a lot more to do a question of balance.  See, on the one hand, I look at this film Crazy Heart, I've heard some good things about it, not sure if I'd really be interested, but hey, Jeff Bridges.  I like Jeff Bridges.  Doesn't everyone like Jeff Bridges?  On the other hand, here's a film that threatens to be full to the brim of country music (and it carries out said threat with ruthless efficiency), and that's not something likely to endear a picture to me.  That said, the country music's largely performed by Bridges himself, so... well, that just confuses the issue, doesn't it?

And in the end, I have to say that I'm rather glad I did see it.  It's a simple, straightforward picture - one of the long history of little American Indie* flicks, where someone in difficulties meets people, not a lot happens, and their life ends up a bit better.  But it really is a fine example of the genre: very nicely put together, endearing, charming, believable.  There's little more important in a film of this nature than the characters being sympathetic, being people you can relate to and who you want to succeed; after all, the film is all about the people in it, no big flashes or bangs, no giant robots and things that go whoooosh.  The characters need to be the kind of folks that you'd side with, that you'd help out if you happened upon them.  What does Crazy Heart have to offer?  Jeff Bridges.  Of course you'd side with Jeff Bridges.  Of course you'd help him out.  Of course you want things to work out well for him.

There's really not a great deal to the film, but it's all the better for that.  There are only a few characters - Maggie Gyllenhaal as the nice girl, Robert Duvall as the old friend, Paul Herman as the sensible and considerate agent, Colin Farrell as the, um, other old friend - and they're all likeable and hope-for-the-best as well.  Simple, straightforward.  Nice.  Charming.  The kind of movie that it's really hard to dislike, and a lovely way to spend a hundred minutes of a Sunday evening.

Now, if they could only have found a way to do it without quite so much country music...



*I'm not particularly comfortable with that word, but it serves a purpose here.