Salt Lake Tribune Review

The moment "Bad" Blake -- the character Jeff Bridges portrays so perfectly in the music drama "Crazy Heart" -- steps up onstage, you know the whole of the man.

It's in the details: the gravelly voice, the belly barely contained by his leather vest, the slow but still sensual way he slings his guitar, the extended amount of time his backup band has to vamp before he shows up. All of these together create an indelible portrait of a performer worn down by age and alcohol, propped up by a drive to perform, yet still containing the dim spark that made him worth hearing in the first place.

It's a character perfectly suited to Bridges' low-key brand of acting. Bridges has never been a flashy, "look at me" actor -- but one who steps back from the edge of the stage, drawing us in closer to discover the characters he inhabits. And he fully inhabits Blake, slowly revealing the bone-weariness of this singer's extended road trips and even more extended drinking binges.

The story, as devised by rookie writer-director Scott Cooper, is as simple and as direct as a country song. Blake is playing at dive bars across the Southwest. In one city, he meets Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a young journalist who takes a fancy to this one-time music legend. They wind up as bedmates, but not necessarily soulmates; she remains guarded, fearful of hurting her little boy, Buddy (Jack Nation).

Meanwhile, Blake runs into someone else on the road: the young country star
who was once his protégé. (I'd mention who plays this young singer, but it was a nice surprise for me and it should be for you, too.)

Yes, the contours of the plot are familiar -- and you can set your watch to Blake's alcoholic meltdown. But where Cooper comes up short in creative plot structure, he compensates with a fine eye for the authentic details of Blake's life -- from the bowling-alley performance locations to the cheap motels where Blake crashes.

What "Crazy Heart" also gets right is the music, thanks to composer T-Bone Burnett and an array of real musicians, notably New Mexico folk-rocker Ryan Bingham, who also plays a young musician who backs up Blake at a tour stop. Bingham and Burnett collaborated on the movie's signature song, "The Weary Kind." It's a tune that fits Blake's definition of a classic, in that it's new but sounds ancient. That's how "Crazy Heart" feels, too. It's a new film, but it feels as familiar and welcome as an old guitar.

-- Sean P. Means

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