By Jennifer Hillman, Staff Writer
Think “The Wrestler,” the 2008 down and out Oscar film, but with a little country swagger. Replace Mickey Rourke with Jeff Bridges and you get “Crazy Heart.”
“Crazy Heart,” directed by Scott Cooper, has a simple story line. Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a ‘has been’ country star that no longer plays in sold-out arenas, but is trying to make ends meet with a couple singing gigs at bars and bowling alleys.
Bad Blake is a troubled character. Either he’s smoking or drinking a bottle of whiskey to wash away the pain of four marriages, a son he hasn’t seen in 24 years or his mentee, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) taking over as the number one country heartthrob.
Cooper, however, uses these characteristics to lure the audience in. Bad Blake becomes a more complex character when the audience listens to his songs. The songs he sings tell the story throughout the film of losing something he thought he would have forever and took for granted, including his youth, his love and his fame. It’s a good thing Jeff Bridges brought T- Bone Burnett on to write the songs for the film, because Burnett’s songs tie perfectly together with Bad Blake’s character.
Jeff Bridges recently received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role and has already scooped up two awards from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actor’s Guild awards deservingly. For starters, Bridges sings and plays his own music, which, in a world where anything can be faked by computers, is a gift. The best part of Bridge’s role is when the audience gets to experience the softer side of him, like when he makes biscuits with Jean Craddoc’s (Maggie Gyllenhaal) son, having a smoke with Tommy Sweet or just strumming the guitar, singing his heart out for himself and no paying audience.
Maggie Gyllenhaal also received a nomination for her role as Jean. She is first introduced in the film as an inspiring reporter looking to do an interview with Blake. She is conflicted, which is understandable, since she is a mother of a four-year-old son and tries to avoid falling for an old time country star. Eventually, she succumbs and ends up having an interesting relationship with Bad Blake. Gyllenhaal may seem like a one-dimensional single mother making the constant same mistakes, but she is after all, only human.
A nice parallel between the two characters, and a fitting beginning and end to the movie, is that they start with an interview with Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake and end with another interview with Otis Blake formally known as Bad Blake in real life.
At one point, Jean asks who has good country music nowadays and Blake responds,
“Who is real country?” The real answer to Jean’s question is you, Mr. Bad Blake.

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in ‘Crazy Heart.” (Photo Courtesy of aceshowbiz.com)