Erin’s Review of Crazy Heart

Right after watching this film, if you had asked me, I think I would’ve said that I didn’t know if I liked it very much. I loved the soundtrack, but something about the plot rubbed me the wrong way. I watched with a friend, and we discussed the movie at length, and I came up with this conclusion: I did not believe in the relationship between Bad and Jean.

That being said, I did find the rest of the movie enjoyable. I loved that right off the bat, they established the character of Bad Blake as not only a washed-up star, but also one of those who cares more about his guitar and his truck than he does about his women (exhibit A: Bad leaves a sleeping groupie in bed at a hotel after a night of “passion,” but does his guitar the courtesy of shining it up. Exhibit B: After his accident, all he cares about is where the guitars are). This is why I was so surprised by the change in his ways when he met Jean. He seemed to be instantly bonded to her, and cared enough to spend the night, wake up with her, and offer to make her (and her son) biscuits. I was also surprised by how quickly she took to him. I keep using the word “surprised” because I failed to see that magical sort of moment where the relationship turns from physical to emotional. Out of nowhere, they were saying “I love you” and calling to say they missed each other. How did he so quickly turn from looking for sleazy girls after gigs to a devoted man in love?

From the first frame, I found myself getting sucked into caring about Bad. I was stressed out about his bad habits- past, present, and potential future. I decided that maybe he took to Jean and her son so quickly because he was trying to make amends for his mistakes in the past. I was concerned about his drinking, especially after the accident, and wondered, if he really cared about these people, why he wouldn’t make the necessary changes to his life. I ultimately found it quite sad that once he realized that alcohol was the root of all of his troubles and got sober, he seemed to also think that quitting would fix all the troubles. I felt so sorry for him throughout most of the film. Except when he lost the child because he was too drunk to take care of him. At that point, I was just angry.

I enjoyed the ending. The fact that Jean was engaged when they re-met was interesting to me. At first I was upset that she had moved on so quickly; sixteen months isn’t very long to get over Bad, meet a new man, fall in love and get engaged. When I looked closer, however, I saw that it might be a testament to who she was—always looking for a strong man, falling quickly in love, and holding on tight to anything good. I think he was better off without her in the end, but it was nice that he got to see her and let her know how deeply she had affected him.