The Thousands

Crazy Heart feels a little like The Big Lebowski meets The Wrestler. Like Darren Aronofsky’s film, it quietly, impressionistically follows a broken-down former star: country singer-songwriter Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges). Alcoholic and estranged from his family, he’s scraping a living touring dismal dives, ducking out mid-song for a spew.

When journalist Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) interviews Blake, she’s intrigued by his enigmatic past and his rough-hewn charm. Tired of one-night stands with fan-cougars, the lonely singer is drawn to the sunny normality of Jean’s life with her four-year-old son. But while she inspires him to resume songwriting and reconcile with a former sideman (Colin Farrell) who’s now a huge solo star, Blake ends up clinging to Jean like a drowning man.

The pace is slow and sometimes dragging, and Gyllenhaal tends to convey her character’s every emotion with a creepy smile, but a wizened, drawling Bridges carries Crazy Heart with a whisky-soaked performance devoid of vanity. He’s superb. And while I’m not a country fan, I loved T-Bone Burnett’s songs. Bridges and Farrell are both decent singers, and the much-awarded theme ‘The Weary Kind’ is compelling enough to be convincing as a career-reviver.