Jeff Bridges Makes Crazy Heart Sing

Career-topping performance should catch Oscar's attention

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2009 9:48 AM CST

(Newser) – Jeff Bridges is already earning Oscar buzz for his turn as a hard-luck country singer in Crazy Heart. And the critics think it’s all deserved:

Bad Blake’s a “juicy, career-crowning role, and Bridges plays the hell out of it,” writes Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. The songs should get Oscar nods too—they’re all new, but they “fit like scuffed boots that have paid their dues on the road.”

The movie is charming and heartfelt, “a small thing gracefully done,” writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post. The screenplay is “so elegant and mature that it usually doesn’t seem to have been written at all.”
Though the story is “a near-perfect cliché,” Bridges performance elevates Crazy Heart, says James Berdinelli of ReelViews. “He buries himself so thoroughly in the role that there's nothing of the actor remaining.”
Actor-turned-director Scott Cooper “knows exactly when a scene’s over” and is “a smart custodian” of Bridges’ performance, says Nick Pinkerton in the Village Voice. “It's merely a well-done, adult American movie—that is to say, a rarity.”

[Videos (1)]

In this film publicity image released by Fox Searchlight films, Jeff Bridges, left, and Maggie Gyllenhaal are shown in a scene from, "Crazy Heart." (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight, Lorey Sebastian)

In this film publicity image released by Fox Searchlight films, Jeff Bridges is shown in a scene from, "Crazy Heart." (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight, Lorey Sebastian)

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Jeff Bridges Makes Crazy Heart Sing

Career-topping performance should catch Oscar's attention