Rolling Sevens with Nothing to Lose

Last night, my good friend Angie took me to see Crazy Heart for my birthday.  I thought Crazy Heart looked interesting when it first came...plus The Dude, how could I resist?  Well, with little time and plenty of other movies to fill me and CT's weekly sojourn to the theater (and it really isn't the kind CT and I usually see - no comedy, no aliens, no explosions), Crazy Heart kept getting pushed off the list.

It is a shame really as it is good.  Really good.  All the actors are pretty spectacular but the Dude is simply amazing.  He did deserve best actor, hands down.  Jeff Bridges fit Bad Blake perfectly.  Every aspect of the performance was great. And who knew Colin Farrell could sing?  Who even knew he was in the movie?  And he was decent, too.  I can't say that the plot and story was the most original ever, it's a pretty old tale of hitting rock bottom and trying various forms of redemption.  I was a little disappointed in the ending...it might not have been a "happy" ending per se, but it was definitely happier than I was secretly hoping for.  I know Angie disagrees with me here, as she loves happy endings; but I although I do love the redemption type story, I also REALLY love stories about giving it all and still failing.  I am not sure why but I find an affinity with that kind of story.  It's the effort, I guess.  I love the tag line "The Harder the Life, the Sweeter the Song." I believe that to be very true.

I know, many of you are probably thinking that "Hey you're a metal music person, I thought you hated country music?  Why would this movie interest you?"  To that I would say:

1) Although metal is my favorite genre it is far from the only thing I listen to.

2) It is true that I make fun of country music more than most genres but I never hated country music.  I always enjoyed the older gritty style of country music (Cash, Jennings, Nelson, Haggard, Coe).  Want I hated was the popified country music crap that started to dominate the air waves -  Achy Breaky Heart, Boot Scootin Boogie, etc...that stuff is horrible.  I enjoyed all the music in this movie.

3) This type of story can cross genres.  I've been to many shows of artists who once may have been famous, but now just scrape by.  They are bitter, they hate themselves, they hate their audiences, they hate life as the try to relive or regain former glory.  It is a powerful story to me.

Thanks again Angie, I had a wonderful time.  I would highly recommend Crazy Heart to anyone looking for a more emotional movie that is not all sugary happiness.  It is bittersweet and that is what makes it fabulous.