Crazy Heart is probably going to be remembered as the film that finally got Jeff Bridges an Oscar (38 years after his first nomination), but does it deserve to be remembered for more than that? It’s hard to imagine that this low-budget, unassuming portrait of a faded country star would find much of an audience outside of country music fans without him (and it’s debatable as to how much star-power Bridges has anyway).
Primarily the problem with Crazy Heart is that, unlike what its title suggests, the film is fairly devoid of drama and passion. Unusually the film is more interested in getting the specifics correct – musicians have detailed discussions on their favourite guitars and amps for example – than in providing dramatic interest or character motivation. While there are dramatic happenings they are fairly minor and rather predictable as Crazy Heart fits firmly into the tradition of films where a disillusioned and ageing man is given a new lease of life by finding a young, beautiful woman who loves him. Not that there’s anything wrong with predictability if the characters are strong enough, but as Bridges character Bad Blake is somewhat exasperating company, and the film is even quite reticent to go into the details of what makes him or many of the supporting characters tick, it does mean that Crazy Heart isn’t a particularly rewarding or satisfying experience.
As so much of the film revolves around Bridges, it’s good to note that he brings his usual laid-back charm to the film and he manages to perform Blake’s songs (which were also awarded with an Oscar) convincingly, should he decide to turn his back on his acting career it’s not inconceivable that he could pursue a career in music. The role also requires a lack of vanity and self-consciousness from him as he’s clearly had to pile on some pounds for the role, and spend much of the film wandering around with his shirt off acting like a drunkard, and he pulls this off well although it is unlikely that Bad Blake will rival his turns in films such as The Big Lebowski, Starman or The Last Picture Show in his fan’s affections. Elsewhere the performances are all solid if mostly in underwritten parts, Maggie Gyllenhaal in particular tries her best with a role that, despite offering a few witty lines, exists solely to be the level-headed love interest and muse for Blake. Like the script, the shooting style would be best described as functional and with so much of the film taking place on hot, dusty and deserted stretches of highway this end result has a soporific, repetitive quality. While in no respect is it a bad film, Crazy Heart is an unsubstantial one only really given any weight by Jeff Bridges’ presence and an authentic-sounding country music soundtrack.
“To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.” — Aaron Copland
“When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again.” — Eric Dolphy
“A song is anything that can walk by itself.” — Bob Dylan
“The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.” — Duke Ellington
“Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.” — Jimi Hendrix
“The reflection of the world is blues, that's where that part of the music is at. Then you got this other kind of music that's tryin' to come around.” — Jimi Hendrix
“I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.” — John Lee Hooker
“I have heartaches, I have blues. No matter what you got, the blues is there. 'Cause that's all I know - the blues. And I can sing the blues so deep until you can have this room full of money and I can give you the blues.” — John Lee Hooker
“The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.” — John Lee Hooker
“I don't play anything but the blues, but now I could never make no money on nothin' but the blues. That's why I wasn't interested in nothin' else.” — Howlin' Wolf
“Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.” — Janis Joplin
“On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone.” — Janis Joplin
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.” — Charles Mingus
“The blues comes right back to a person's feelings, to his daily activities in life. But rich people don't know nothing about the blues, please believe me.” — Jimmy Rushing
“The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.” — Jimmy Rushing
“The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.” — Bruce Springsteen
"I been in the blues all my life. I'm still delivering 'cause I got a long memory." — Muddy Waters
"There's no way in the world I can feel the same blues the way I used to. When I play in Chicago, I'm playing up-to-date, not the blues I was born with. People should hear the pure blues - the blues we used to have when we had no money." — Muddy Waters
