ie8 fix
Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 32
  2. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. 100
    Jeff Bridges is a virtual certainty to win his first Oscar, after four nominations.
  2. Crazy Heart is the real thing, and a real gem.
  3. Gyllenhaal is charming and makes unexpected choices in her performance, but this is Bridges' show, and he's as Best Actor-worthy as he's ever been.
  4. 100
    A small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center.
  5. Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    100
    On first viewing, Crazy Heart seemed like a pretty good movie with one great performance. After a second time through, it's sneaking up on the title of my favorite film of the year.
  6. Bridges draws us deeply inside Blake's moment-to-moment heartbreaks. He makes us root for him as we would root for a dear friend. Ultimately, his triumphs become our own.
  7. Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    90
    It's merely a well-done, adult American movie--that is to say, a rarity.
  8. On a par with Bridges' acting, and a sine qua non for Crazy Heart's success, is the excellent music he sings.
  9. Reviewed by: David Ansen
    90
    Crazy Heart gets to you like a good country song--not because it tells you something new, but because it tells it well. It's the singer, not the song.
  10. Crazy Heart is blessed with so many marvelous moments, lovely lines and vivid characters.
  11. 88
    Can't possibly deserve your close attention. Yet it does, with distilled honky-tonk poetry and generous good humor. It's one of the year's best, most deeply felt films.
  12. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    88
    The music is terrific, as it should be in a movie where T Bone Burnett wrote the songs with Stephen Bruton.
  13. 88
    This performance reminds us that Bridges is that rare actor who has never had to make that apology. Crazy Heart lets him be every bit as grand as we'd hope him to be.
  14. A simple story about a difficult man, and it's an impressive debut from writer-director Scott Cooper.
  15. Bridges' guileless performance makes this piquant little indie tale of country music, redemption, and the love of a pretty younger woman such a sad-song charmer.
  16. 83
    Crazy Heart could use more rough edges, but while it's a little too sentimental and tidy, Bridges' humane, deeply empathetic lead performance makes it easy to root for one man's redemption.
  17. Reviewed by: Nev Pierce
    80
    A phenomenal, heart-breaking performance from Jeff Bridges powers this simple but affecting redemption story.
  18. 80
    Bridges performance in Crazy Heart, for my money the finest male performance of the year, reels us right back to understanding why: Instead of dressing up words, he sends them out naked. It's everything he subtracts that matters.
  19. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    80
    Ever-youthful in his looks and energy, Bridges now stands as one of Hollywood's great old pros, incapable of making a false move.
  20. 80
    Robert Duvall, who played a similar character in Bruce Beresford's "Tender Mercies" (1983), turns up in a supporting role.
  21. 78
    Bridges makes this sozzled and desperate ex-desperado – a cliché by any other name – as fresh and vital as one final shot at cowboy-poet redemption. It may sound crazy, but it's true.
  22. 75
    Even when you know what's coming, Crazy Heart haunts you like a classic country song. It's a mesmerizer. So is Bad Blake. This dude also abides.
  23. 75
    Bridges brings his 50 years of acting experience to this one captivating, surprisingly moving performance.
  24. Perhaps the idea of watching Jeff Bridges as a drunken, broken-down, down-on-his luck country music singer in Crazy Heart doesn't automatically sound appealing. But think this: "The Wrestler." With good songs.
  25. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    75
    Crazy Heart, based on a 1987 novel by Thomas Cobb, also has great music. Even if you're not a country music fan, the songs, by T Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton, are infectious.
  26. Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    75
    The virtues of Crazy Heart only begin with Bridges: Music fans will rejoice at the movie's songs.
  27. 75
    Crazy Heart is the country music version of "The Wrestler": a grizzled veteran whose days in the spotlight are behind him struggles to keep going while seeing the world through a haze of regret and booze.
  28. Bridges's big performance takes place in the context of a relatively minor movie.
  29. What makes this low-key movie memorable are the pitch-perfect performances.
  30. Crazy Heart lacks that spark of originality. So what Fox Searchlight has salvaged essentially is a highly watchable performance by Bridges, one of many he has furnished throughout a long career.
  31. 70
    It has a gentle, unforced rhythm, and what's there is good and true. But there's not enough of it--the movie needs more plot, more complication, more conflict.
  32. A manufactured kid-in-jeopardy climax and Blake's rehab stint blow the mood. Until then, this is great American acting.

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User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 99 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 37
  2. Negative: 5 out of 37
  1. This review contains spoilers, click full review link 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. Full Review »
  2. Of course, Bridges steals the show. He IS the show. That's the whole point of this film.....following this country legend all around the west and feeling the envy he feels while witnessing the perfection he once had. We then witness his gains only to feel them ripped from his life after the mistakes me makes. The film never quite spikes with enough energy aside from Bridges singing the same song over and over throughout the duration. The performances are all there, but the energetic undertones are stagnant which can make this film drag depending on what mood the audience is in. Bridges makes this film interesting, and that's that. Full Review »
  3. 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. Full Review »