Crazy Heart Strikes a Chord

Despite the story’s striking parallels with The Wrestler, Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart is able to resonate with audiences, mostly through the performances of lead actors Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Both received Academy Award nominations for their work in this film(Best Actor and Supporting Actress, respectively). The story is unfortunately all too familiar; worn-out, alcoholic, ex-celebrity Bad Blake is fifty-seven years old and can barely get through his shows because of his overall condition, or as a doctor in the film says, his “lack thereof."

Over the movie’s 112 minutes, we watch Blake hit highs and lows, in a romantic relationship with Jane (Gyllenhaal), his career, and his limited personal relationships. He resents his now successful ex-partner (Colin Farrell), constantly argues with his agent, and cannot even connect with his own son, whom he has not seen in twenty-four years. However, through spending time with Jane and connecting with her young son, he is able to realize that there are things for which to live.

While this message is a bit trite, the performance of Bridges really brings out the emotion of this film. His character is a country singer, and he impressively does all his own singing. In Blake’s first song, he sings “I used to be somebody / Now I’m somebody else”. While this lyrical ditty could be referring to the difference between his past and current self, as we watch the film we are able to see a transformation from current to future. We then witness a series of misleading events concerning Bad’s relationship with Jane’s son, and things take a turn for the worse.

Although this may be a bit of a stretch, upon watching the film I can’t help but to be reminded of The Big Lebowski. Bad Blake’s first performance is in a bowling alley, and upon his entrance he has a drink at the bar. It seems that Bridges has gone from playing the laid-back, no-worries “Dude”, to the thick-accent, cowboy-hat-wearing narrator of his previous film. In a sort of tragic way, Bad Blake is a more mature version of “the Dude”, looking back on a life of mistakes, but instead of having a White Russian, he decides to go to rehab.

The film moves at a slower pace, but when the powerful moments come, they hit hard. The best scene in the entire movie has to be when Bad Blake, with a broken ankle, lays in Jane’s bed, trying to write a country song. Jane begins crying, remarking that to her this is a memorable day. To him, however, it will be something forgettable, another blip in the day to day grind. Not understanding why she is so upset, he reassures her that he will never forget. In a way this seems to be the real story of the film; realizing that the extraordinary can be found in the ordinary. At the end of the film, we realize that the song Blake has been composing beckons us to give his “crazy heart one more try”; wise advice for a film that is not all that creative or immediately impressive, but special nonetheless.