Review of Crazy Heart

If it weren't for some of the bigger name actors in Crazy Heart, it would be a perfectly adequate, small indie film.  It's well-made, insightful, touching, semi-heartbreaking, and ultimately, kind of uplifting.  I wonder if it would be all those things, though, if Jeff Bridges weren't at the center of it all.  The writing would have remained just as good.  The locations just as evocative.  The music as catchy and easy to listen to.  But Jeff Bridges' performance grounds the film and raises it above what probably would've been that perfectly adequate, small indie film into one that's really quite good.
He's not a bad man, despite his name, Bad Blake, but he's got issues.  Bridges makes Blake very real.  I think everyone probably knows someone like him - charismatic but weighed down.  Maggie Gyllenhaal is also very good as Jean, a reporter who wanted an interview and ended up as Blake's could be/sort of is girlfriend.  Their relationship plays very naturally and never feels forced.  Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall each have small but deftly handled roles.  At the core, though, this movie really is about Bad Blake, and Jeff Bridges' performance really is a winner.
While the acting, in my opinion, is the key to this movie, it does have some scenic, if sometimes awkwardly framed cinematography.  And I thought the music was outstanding, especially the song that plays in the trailer and over the end credits, "The Weary Kind."  I definitely think it's Best Original Song material.
All in all, I liked Crazy Heart, but had it not been for Jeff Bridges and the supporting players performances, I wonder if I'd have liked it as much.  But who cares?  These ARE the actors in the movie.  So there it is.  3.5 stars.

Number rating: 85