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In a role that could have been nothing more than a cliché, Jeff Bridges brings his years of experience and mastery of his craft to create one of the greatest character portraits of last year. While the story might be filled with country music clichés and tropes, they maintain a certain level of dignity, intelligence and spark. These are real people; they’re just stuck in a storyline that’s been used in how many other films, songs and short stories? Certain details might be different, but the beats remain exactly the same. That doesn’t mean that it’s not good.
Crazy Heart is best as an observation of a broken, disillusioned man. Once we are presented with the redemptive love story, we are saddled with the moments that are recycled and obvious. There are even moments within the love story that work as an observation. The scene where he tells Jean that she makes his hotel room look so bad is a classic example of southern charm, even if it is buried within a permanently drunken gait and a strict diet of cigarettes. They both know that he is better than the dive-bars and bowling alleys he has been reduced to, he should be too famous for her tiny little newspaper…but, alas, life intervenes and choices are made, some better made than others. The emotions are always bubbling under the surface, never coming out in big hysterical emotions. That is an asset to the film. Scenes of alcoholism are played close to the bone and with much intelligence about the disease.
Everyone in the cast delivers an incredibly strong performance, except for one poor casting decision. Robert Duvall, in a glorified cameo, plays a recovering alcoholic who’s also a bar owner. He’s wise in the way that life can make you if you’ve been through hell and back. Maggie Gyllenhaal, a warm and committed actress in any role, is pitch-perfect as a single-mother who can’t help falling for broken and damaged men despite being smart enough to know better. She deservedly got an Academy Award nomination for her performance, it should have been her second or third after Secretary and Sherrybaby. Colin Farrell, not really bad just never convincing, does his best to make his physical appearance and character mesh. He tries hard, but never really pulls the trick off. Perhaps they should have gone with a real country musician, or a southern actor. Their relationship is never clichéd; he never abandons Bad despite Bad’s resenting him for achieving greater success. He always offers support and champions Bad’s talents and gifts. It’s a great dynamic, and with a better casting decision would have elevated parts of the film to another level.
But the real reason to see Crazy Heart, if you haven’t already, is to see Jeff Bridges’ committed essay of Bad Blake. With his cracked skin, bloated gut and grey scruff, Bridges resembles the type of character perfectly. We’ve all see one person who looks like Bad Blake in our lives, perhaps even known them. You can tell he was once handsome and rascally, a hell-raising good ol’ boy. Time and personal problems, four failed marriages and an abandoned child have taken their toll. Bridges can project all of this by the way he drinks and smokes, which it seems are his lifelines. Never once, even while vomiting up his previous lunch meals of cigarettes and whiskey, does he lose the dignity within Bad Blake. There is a bruised and battered humanity within him, Crazy Heart is about rediscovering the human inside his song lyrics.
