Crazy Heart, written and directed by Scott Cooper, is the tale of  Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), a washed-up country/western singer well past his prime. He is now reduced to drive around the Southwest in his beat-up pickup truck, staying at shabby motels, and performing in nondescript bowling alleys and local bars for a living. This does not sit too well with Bad who is also constantly drunk and a heavy smoker. Bad gets a chance at redemption, however, when he meets and falls in love with Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an aspiring journalist and single mother.

Cooper doesn’t try to do too much in his directorial debut. The movie has a quiet and minimalistic feel, allowing the actors to take complete control of the screen and shining the spotlight on the star of the show. Cooper wrote the movie entirely for Jeff Bridges and only wanted him for the part. We can see why as Bridges has been critically lauded for his performance and is guaranteed his 5th Academy Award nomination. Bridges completely inhabits his character and gives an intense and completely authentic performance that separates Crazy Heart from the pack of similarly related movies. Bad is dirty, sweaty, psychologically broken, and seen drinking and smoking at every hour of the day, he is a complete wreck and every instant of it felt real. No less impressive is the fact that Bridges is utterly believable as a singer, performing all his songs by himself. Same goes for Colin Farrell who plays Tommy Sweet, Blake’s former protege who has gone on to become a bigger and brighter star. It is refreshing to see that Tommy is not portrayed as some douchebag but as a genuinely thankful person who reverently considers Blake as the source of his current success. Farrell acquits himself very well although he appeared a bit forced in his first scene of the movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal is her usual reliable self, giving an effortless turn as Bad’s love interest. We never really understand why she is attracted to that ship-wreck named Bad Blake but that’s mostly an issue the script doesn’t want to address. Robert Duvall also appears in the movie for a couple brief scenes, and well it’s Robert freaking Duvall. The man is a legend.

Production values are very good. Crazy Heart is nicely shot with eye-pleasing cinematography by Barry Markowitz. Musically, the songs by T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton are catchy, crowd-pleasing and well-performed. Director/writer Scott Cooper told us at the “advanced” screening (in Minneapolis at least, see notes) that the stage scenes were actually performed at a real concert in front of a real audience and the crowd reaction is completely authentic as they had no idea that Colin Farrell and Jeff Bridges would appear out of nowhere and start singing. That’s pretty gutsy if you ask me both from the production and actors point of view.

Despite its all too common redemption premises of a middle-aged drunken country singer past his prime, Crazy Heart is elevated by a superb cast highlighted by the terrific Jeff Bridges.

B+

Notes: Rated R for language and brief sexuality, 111 minutes. In roll-out limited release in select cities.