1. thelordoffilm

   10

   Crazy Heart is a real American movie, it's not a remake or reboot. It's original work that needs to be seen. Of all the generic movies of violence and bad storytelling it's very refreshing to see a movie that cares for its characters and plot. Crazy Heart tells the story of Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) a washed-out country singer who's not a very likeable guy. He curses, drinks, and very lazy. He use to be the top dog in country but we can just tell he screw that up. His agent clearly forces him and yells at him to get up and do a performance and not to f@#k it up. He refuses to collaborate with another country singer named Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) which we get a notion of a disagreement between them from the past. Bridges performance is so good that we can tell the age of experience from his actions and mannerisms. We can tell his sadness from his actions with the way he acts and his judgments. All of these things start to change once he meet Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) a writer and her son. At first is sexual but then he starts falling for her and for his son. He decides to reinvent his life and people it's not easy for him. Bridge's performance is downright awesome and finally the recognition he deserves. He comes from a huge career of movies and he nailed this one. He created a character that was believable. There were times when we wanted to cry for him and when we were angry with him. The supporting cast was very good as well. Gyllenhaal was very good and gave a very good supportive role. Colin Farrell as well who does more action flicks shows that he has more meaning and dramatic depths. Yeah the plot is familiar with music stars but the performances form the actors rise to another level. I think this movie shines a light on movies where we lost the effect that movie does for us. This is a movie who has important things to say, films are suppose to be teach aspects of life and to entertain. Some movies are satires and some movies are protests. You want to know what Crazy Heart teaches, see it yourself and let it teach you. One of the best films of 2009.… Expand

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2. JudgeHolden

   8

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Dude is the Dude. Bridges: he makes all the difference in this movie. There are many similar movies to Crazy Heart, but Bad Blake's history is unique for Bridges' ability to portray an old country star whose best days are long gone and their place is taken by alcohol. It's worthy to see just for the few scenes with Bridges and Duvall together: they are great actors because when they act they seem no actors at all.… Expand

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3. txrangersfan72

   7

   Crazy Heart is a superbly acted movie that transcends the story. Any less of a performance by Jeff Bridges or Maggie Gyllenhaal would have made this a sub-par film. Story-wise it never connects with me. Not enough time is spent on specific emotional elements between Bad and Tommy, Bad and his son or even Bad and Jean. However, you can extract the pain from Jeff's performance alone. He was extremely worthy of his Best Actor Oscar. While I've seen him in a rugged role before, he takes a character that is clearly meant to exhibit a painful presence and, in spite of the strength of the story, makes you see and almost feel his pain.… Expand

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4. Halfwelshman

   4

   Crazy Heart is a mediocre movie at best - it has a solid (but not exceptional) soundtrack, but the story moves too slowly and only approaches anything close to real drama in the final 30 minutes. The cast turn in a real mixed bag of performances. Despite the acclaim he received for the role of Bad Blake, I felt Jeff Bridges tended to coast through the film, churning out a re-hash of his washed-up loser "greatest hits". With the addition of a bored-looking Robert Duvall, and the ridiculously miscast Colin Farrell, Crazy Heart would be in danger of becoming a thoroughly unmemorable viewing experience, but thankfully it has a saving grace in a emotional, rousing performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal. Despite being a scene-stealer, her character, the single mother and music journalist Jean Craddock, makes some unbelievably poor choices of judgement that threaten to make the whole film's narrative laughable - I don't care how much you like country music, Jeanie, what on Earth would attract you that fat, alcoholic windbag in the first place, let alone make you think it was a good idea to let him look after your kid? In all fairness, Crazy Heart does get much better towards the end. From it's pretentious and plodding beginnings, it eventually becomes something watchable, has a pleasing story arc of downfall and redemption, and, perhaps most importantly, Bridges looks and sounds like a country music star. In the end, though it may have the odd glimmer of brilliance, Crazy Heart isn't anything special. If I wanted to watch an engaging and entertaining film about country music, I'd choose Walk the Line over this any day.… Expand

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