Crazy Heart
(M) Roadshow Entertainment
I guess it's a mark of an outstanding acting performance that you forget you are watching an actor.
Jeff Bridges, the Academy Award-winning best actor for his efforts in Crazy Heart, has delivered such a performance with his portrayal of Bad Blake.
Bridges shows us rough, edgy, dour
and dark - every bit the hard-living musician. After four previous nominations, Bridges cracked the big time playing the washed up former country and western star.
Blake, who never seemed to be without a cigarette or a drink in his hand, enjoyed the heights of his profession as one of the biggest stars around.
But those days have long gone.
He's now forced to play two-bit bars and clubs in out of the way towns to fans who still want to hear the hits that he built his career on many years ago.
Bad knows the only way he's going to put cash in his pocket is playing these venues but his life is going nowhere fast and has no meaning to it.
When reporter Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) enters his life, Bad discovers there might be time for a second chance.
Spending time with Jean and her young son injects life back into his troubled body and gives his existence new meaning.
But the demons of cigarettes and drink continue to cast a shadow over him and his growing relationship with Jean.
Bad must work out where his priorities lie - with alcohol, Jean or his career.
Crazy Heart is very much a one-man show but that one man does exceedingly well.
