Katty's Pick: Crazy Heart

I've been excited all week because I knew I was going to get to see this movie. It was kind of a long wait, but ooooooooh boy. It was worth it.
Sometimes a movie comes out and it gets hyped and everyone's talking about it and then you see it and you're kind of....let down. Then sometimes a movie comes out, gets hyped, has awesome word of mouth, you finally get a chance to see it and it's awesome. This is one of those.
Crazy Heart is a slice of the life of Bad Blake, a writer and singer of "real country", who is approaching his 60's with nothing but a guitar, a dwindling career and a slew of health problems.
Blake is on tour hitting some of the most prestigious corner bars and bowling alleys in the American Southwest when an encounter with a beautiful small town newspaper reporter inspires him to put down the bottle and write his first new song in years.
Giving Blake the chance at one last comeback is his much younger former back up guitarist,the now famous Tommy Sweet. Blake must put his ego aside as he evaluates his life and tries to make amends for his glaring shortcomings.
Interestingly, the movie was originally made for television, but when viewed by Fox execs, they insisted it be shot as a full length feature film, and it was--in 24 days!
Jeff Bridges gives the best performance of his career as Bad Blake- and that is saying something. Completely understated, so genuine and so human, he made this character a living breathing person. I had two friends watching this with me and he reminded each of us of our fathers in different ways. I think this may be where the real charm of the performance lay.
However, I do not believe that Bridges was the whole movie. It was beautifully written, beautifully shot. The supporting characters were wonderful. The soundtrack is completely awesome (and I'm not really that into country).
A sure fire winner for this first time director Scott Cooper.