Crazy Heart
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: December 16, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
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. Read full review
100
SlateDana Stevens
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. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Jeff Bridges is a virtual certainty to win his first Oscar, after four nominations. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Crazy Heart is the real thing, and a real gem. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
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. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
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. Read full review
90
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
It's merely a well-done, adult American movie--that is to say, a rarity. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Crazy Heart is blessed with so many marvelous moments, lovely lines and vivid characters. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
On a par with Bridges' acting, and a sine qua non for Crazy Heart's success, is the excellent music he sings. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle Smith
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. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The music is terrific, as it should be in a movie where T Bone Burnett wrote the songs with Stephen Bruton. Read full review
88
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
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. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
A simple story about a difficult man, and it's an impressive debut from writer-director Scott Cooper. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
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. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
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. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Ever-youthful in his looks and energy, Bridges now stands as one of Hollywood's great old pros, incapable of making a false move. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
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. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Robert Duvall, who played a similar character in Bruce Beresford's "Tender Mercies" (1983), turns up in a supporting role. Read full review
80
EmpireNev Pierce
A phenomenal, heart-breaking performance from Jeff Bridges powers this simple but affecting redemption story. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
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. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
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. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
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. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
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. Read full review
75
Washington PostStaff (Not credited)
The virtues of Crazy Heart only begin with Bridges: Music fans will rejoice at the movie's songs. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Bridges's big performance takes place in the context of a relatively minor movie. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
What makes this low-key movie memorable are the pitch-perfect performances. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Bridges brings his 50 years of acting experience to this one captivating, surprisingly moving performance. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
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. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
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. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
A manufactured kid-in-jeopardy climax and Blake’s rehab stint blow the mood. Until then, this is great American acting. Read full review
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