Crazy Heart
by Scott Cooper
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Scott CooperBrand: FOX
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
Published: 2010-04-01
DVD Release Date: 2010-04-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Crazy Heart
Movie Review: I'll have my real name on my tombstone, until then I'll just be Bad
Summary: 5 Stars
Jeff Bridges is a very musical guy, for an actor. Maybe those bridges he's named for are like the bridges in songs: verse, chorus, bridge. In The Fabulous Baker Boys Jeff Bridges played a jazz pianist and he was fabsolutely abulous. He learned piano well enough to play the tunes, though the actual music was dubbed in by Dave Grusin. As cool and hep as he looked as a jazz cat, in Crazy Heart, he had the perfect look for a country singer. Looks like Kris Kristopherson, sounds even better. Both have co-starred with Barbara Striesand. Maybe The Other Side of the Mirror and the third remake of A Star is Born is an unfair comparison, but Jeff Bridges, most would agree, is a better actor than Kris. Kris Kristopherson was a country singer and he wrote Sunday Morning Coming Down for Johnny Cash, and Me and Bobby McGee was a big hit for Janis--but as authentic as he would have been as Bad Blake, once you've seen Crazy Heart you know that no one could've done it better than Jeff Bridges.
The Dude Abides
It's time for an Oscar for Bridges. You know that if he wins, there will be a huge standing ovation. No one else could be more certain to get a huge standing ovation if, or should I say when, he wins (I actually wrote this review before the Oscars, but I waited until the DVD was released to post it. OF COURSE the dude won the Oscar as predicted). He is long overdue for an Oscar.
Bad Blake is a total mess, but music means a lot to him, and his music means a lot to many others: Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), one of the pick up bands, his buddy Wayne (Robert Duvall), many of the fans, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrel)--but don't mention Tommy Sweet.
Bad doesn't like it when people ask him about Tommy, because Tommy is at his peak while Blake is a has-been(I mean, 'a living legend'). Tommy helps him out though, and turns his fortunes around. Colin Farrel was very sweet as Tommy Sweet. He also sang pretty good. Didn't steal the show, but was believable as a Country Music star.
Robert Duvall was his friend Wayne, a bar owner, who gave him a ration of booze but could also see that when it was time for him to quit drinking, it was time for him to quit drinking. His support system. In Tender Mercies Duvall played the troubled troubador. Here, he is careful not to upstage Bridges, and gives a very supportive understated performance. There's a scene where he sings one of Bad's songs on a fishing trip they take together. He doesn't sound that great A Cappella, but he sounds sincere, and you can tell that Bad's song means a lot to him.
The story of Crazy Heart is not a typical one of love conquers all, or even the typical musician bio about the long struggle to reach the top. It's a down hill ride, where the exalted peak is vaguely remembered, and the struggle is more about accepting that your best years are over. It is way past the time to start aging gracefully. Maggie Gyllenhaal was great as the journalist who temporarily falls for him, but then realizes that her son isn't safe with him if Bad starts drinking. Her name was Jean Craddock, reminding me of my sister Joanie Craddock, who is a George Strait fan, though there the resemblance ends.
T-Bone Burnett did the music for O, Brother, Where Art Thou? and also The Big Lebowski (Bridges was The Dude). As usual, T-Bone handled the music superbly. Stephen Bruton was kind of the model for Bad Blake. He lived the Bad Blake life of a musician on the road. He also wrote music for the film but passed away just before it was finished, and the film is dedicated to his memory. He was kind of a consultant. The Sparkletts jug was his idea.
The Bottom Line is Crazy Heart rates 5 stars for Bridges' Oscar winning performance, and for the great supporting cast of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, and the rest. With T-Bone Burnett handling the music it was as real and right as it gets. The story was kind of low key and lacking in a Hollywood ending, much to its credit. Scott Cooper, the director and writer, brought out the 'Crazy Heart' of the Thomas Cobb novel. And as always, the dude abides. Jeff Bridges was like the rug that pulled the whole room together.
---------
Bad Blake: I want to talk about how bad you make this room look.
In Bruges (2008) Colin Farrell was Ray
Masked and Anonymous (2003) Jeff Bridges was Tom Friend
Secretary (2002) Maggie Gyllenhaal was Lee Holloway
Donnie Darko (2001) Maggie Gyllenhaal was Elizabeth Darko
The Big Lebowski (1998) Jeff Bridges was Jeffrey Lebowski - The Dude
The Fisher King (1991) Jeff Bridges was Jack Lucas
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) Jeff Bridges was Jack Baker
Tender Mercies (1983) Robert Duvall was Mac Sledge
The Last Picture Show: The Definitive Director's Cut (Special Edition) (1971) Jeff Bridges was Duane Jackson
To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition) (1962) Robert Duvall was Arthur 'Boo' Radley
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Bad Blake: I'll have my real name on my tombstone, until then I'll just be Bad.
Summary of Crazy Heart
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 04/20/10
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
In a career filled with unforced, naturalistic performances, Jeff Bridges gives one of his finest in Crazy Heart. His oft-married, booze-soaked troubadour Bad Blake has just rolled into Santa Fe when he meets Maggie Gyllenhaal's journalist Jean. "Where do all the songs come from?" she asks during their initial encounter. "Life, unfortunately," he sighs. Against Jean's better judgment, her fling with Blake blooms into a full-fledged relationship. Between gigs, Blake hangs out with the divorcée and her 4-year-old son, with whom he establishes an instant rapport, possibly because the musician is just an overgrown kid himself (and also because he hasn't seen his own boy in years). While Blake plays juke joints, his protégé, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell, cast against type to fine effect), plays stadiums, but just when director Scott Cooper's debut seems to be going down the same path as A Star Is Born, Sweet offers his mentor an opportunity that could revive his reputation--at the expense of his still-healthy ego. Between Jean and Tommy, things start looking up for Blake until a critical error puts his stab at redemption in jeopardy. Once Robert Duvall enters the scene as Blake's favorite bartender, it's clear that Cooper has Tender Mercies in his sights, but Crazy Heart, which features music by T-Bone Burnett and rough-hewn singing by its Golden Globe-winning star, plays more like a sincere cover version than a strikingly original composition. Still, like Duvall's in Tender Mercies, Bridges's performance is Oscar-worthy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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