What I Watched -- Crazy Heart

It's hard to believe Jeff Bridges hadn't won an Oscar before Crazy Heart.  He's a fabulous actor, with notches on his belt prior to this one including The Last Picture Show, Bad Company, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, the geek-cult classic Tron (not a best actor-worthy role, but a popular one), The Fabulous Baker Boys (also starring his brother Beau), The Fisher King, Fearless, the oh-so-fantastic and immensely under-appreciated Wild Bill, the thoroughly appreciated The Big Lebowski, K-Pax (never heard of it?  Not surprising, but he apparently handles his supporting actor role pretty well), Seabiscuit (another supporting role), and Iron Man (again, not Oscar material for acting, but a huge hit nonetheless).  That's a lot of movies, but nary a statuette for the actor.

Enter Crazy Heart.  The movie, based on a 1987 book by Thomas Cobb, has at its core a grizzled and bitter old country singer who's a stereotype in every sense: Bad Blake is a washed-up-in-bourbon has-been who's lost his lyrical magic and most of his fans.  He drives himself from gig to gig in his beater of a truck, and even finds himself the opening act for his former protegee Tommy Sweet, played by Colin Farrell. 

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jean, a single mom and aspiring journalist who scores (pun intended) an interview with Bridges' Bad Blake.  Gyllenhaal's characters seem to shine when they are, perhaps against their better judgment, entangled with a tangled male lead; witness Stranger Than Fiction, and even The Dark Knight and Secretary, in their own ways.  In Crazy Heart, Gyllenhaal plays Jean in the conflicted way you might really imagine a single mom - she loves this man, but knows that his drinking and lifestyle aren't for her and her son.  Yes, she's a stereotype too.

But somehow, stereotypes and all, this movie works.  Bridges and Gyllenhaal are superbly convincing in their portrayals, and the music is sadly perfect.

Bottom line: a talented actor with a well-deserved Oscar + a good supporting cast - stereotypes + great original music = a movie worth watching.