Same old story

Crazy Heart
15, Nationwide

Crazy Heart is the film in which Jeff Bridges plays a broken-down, washed-up, boozy country music singer who may or may not be saved by the love of a good woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and while I wanted to love this film, and strived to love this film, and hadn’t really contemplated not loving this film — Jeff Bridges; romance; redemption; what’s not to love? — it just didn’t happen. Both Bridges and Gyllenhaal have been Oscar-nominated for their performances, which may prompt you to see it, and while I wouldn’t exactly wish to talk you out of that decision, and can’t be bothered anyhow, you should probably know that their performances are much, much better than this film deserves. This is a story that’s been told a thousand times, sometimes with Kris Kristofferson in it, and sometimes not, and it just doesn’t bring anything new to the party. A fellow reviewer, who should remain nameless but is Christopher Tookey from the Daily Mail — who even has the energy to make up names these days? — commented after the screening that he thought it was ‘The Wrestler, but with country music’ and that kind of says it all. I was minded to steal that line and present it as my own but Mr Tookey is a big man and he also works for a newspaper that may get its own back by showing everyone how fat I look in a bikini. So I thought better of it, in the end.

Bridges plays ‘Bad Blake’, a singer-songwriter who was once a big star but now plays bowling alleys and half-filled bars, and is so boozed-up he can’t last a gig without disappearing off-stage to throw up in some alley.