Country Strong: Plot Weak—Movie

What to make of Country Strong, written and directed by Shana Feste?  The film is ostensibly the story of country singer Kelly Kanter (Gwyneth Paltrow), who, on the insistence of her manager husband, James (Tim McGraw), is prematurely released from a rehab center for alcohol and drug abuse to begin a new tour. But somewhere along the line the secondary story of the secondary leads takes over and unfortunately for the film, it is far more interesting.  

Paltrow is fine as the beleaguered singer. She seemingly has the accent down and she can sing, but something is off. Maybe we’ve seen this story too many times, but you never really connect with her or her story. As we learn what caused her most recent collapse, it’s obvious to all that she’s still struggling with inner demons. But what got her started down that path to begin with? We never really find out and if we did it might make the story more compelling. 

Enter Garrett Hedlund as Beau Hutton and Gossip Girl’s  Leighton Meester as Chiles Stanton. Hutton is an aspiring singer-songwriter who worked with Kelly while she was in rehab and had/has a love affair with her. Stanton is a former beauty queen hoping to make it as a singer. Both are recruited to open for Kelly on her comeback tour and the two of them begin to fall in love while on the road.  These two have terrific chemistry together and boy, can they sing! Hedlund’s voice has a fabulous tonal quality and sounds very much like Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake would have sounded before the alcohol set in. Meester is fantastic, and truth be told, her character is way more interesting than Paltrow’s. Often seeming like the only person who can really act on Gossip Girl, she shines in Country Strong.

And riddle me this…in a country music film with actors who are not professional singers singing, why have a real country singer, Tim McGraw, if you don’t intend to have him sing?   McGraw can act. He’s actually very good in this movie, but he could have done more.

Country Strong has potential, but never reaches it. Wait for Netflix and then watch it for Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester. Let’s hope we get to see more of both of them in future movies.

2 nuggets out of 4

Crazy Heart—Movie

Jeff Bridges, you had me at “I want to talk about how bad you make this room look.” A mere 15 minutes or so into Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake speaks that one sentence in the lowest of registers and makes me and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character, Jean, fall in love with him.

Written and directed by Scott Cooper (based on a novel by Thomas Cobb), Crazy Heart is the story of hard-drinking, hard-living, and somehow still hard-working country singer, Bad Blake. Once a renowned  and beloved singer/songwriter, very similar it would seem to Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, Blake has fallen on hard times, singing in bowling alleys and honky-tonk bars in the southwest. It’s at one of these gigs in Santa Fe that he meets journalist Jean Craddock and is soon taken with the much younger mother of a  4-year old son and she with him. It’s also in Santa Fe that he hears from his manager about performing as the opening act for former protégée and now big-time singer, Tommy Sweet (an unbilled Colin Farrell). Begrudgingly he accepts and when he performs with Sweet we can see, despite the smoking and drinking, he’s still got it…but for how long?

Jeff Bridges is absolutely astonishing as Bad Blake. He really seems to embody this man. It’s a heart-breaking performance. And his chemistry with Gyllenhaal and her son (Jack Nation) is palpable. Gyllenhaal as Jean, so afraid of giving her heart to yet another mistake, really shines. And Robert Duval provides a crackling performance as Blake’s now sober, no-nonsense father.

The original music, by Stephen Bruton (who died in May 2009) and T-Bone Burnett, is fantastic and spot on. As a performer, Jeff Bridges is amazing. Who knew he could sing and play guitar? Also more than equal to the singing challenge and very believable is Colin Farrell.

Crazy Heart is a must-see movie.  Jeff Bridges, always great in every movie he’s in (check out The Men Who Stare at Goats—he steals every scene) deserves all the accolades he’s getting for this one.  Seek this movie out.

3 ½ nuggets out of 4