Crazy Heart (2009)

Is there a present-day actor cooler than Jeff Bridges? No. And in “Crazy Heart,” Bridges is cool. And, yet, pathetic. He’s Bad Blake, an immensely talented country singer whose career never peaked beyond bowling alleys and bars. Facing 60, Blake is a lifelong drunk staring at death from emphysema, heart attack, lung cancer, or a drunken car crash. The kicker: His protégé (Colin Farrell) is a mega-hit superstar, packing arenas with adoring fans. As with every redemption story, and make no mistake about it, “Crazy” is that, there is a woman. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the single mom who falls for Blake’s weird country grunge charm. Is it a believable? Not fully. Yet, it’s oddly touching more than creepy. Blake isn’t just after a pretty woman, but a surrogate son. Thankfully, director/screenwriter Scott Cooper avoids the syrupy ending. It’s not all roses or overly “art house” dark at the end. Bridges earned that Oscar, showing miles of wrong ways and dead ends in Blake’s bleary eyes. The country lyrics are amazing testaments to men (and women) who have killed or blown every good chance in life, and are yet cling on for another swing at the bat. And that, essentially, is the film. B+