Crazy Heart

Seen at: Cinemark Fort Collins, Monday afternoon.

Dreadfully I've noticed a new trend in moviegoing. In largely empty auditorium, it seems to be acceptable to talk outloud, provided you are not talking at full volume, and provided you do it only when the soundtrack volume is loud.

Well, guess what? I can hear you. Yes, you, the person I'm glaring at. I know it's amazing and beyond your ability to comprehend, but your little old voice actually carries way down here six rows to where I'm sitting. Can you dig it?Your esses are like hisses, noise in a speaker from a bad wire. Blows your mind!

I can't really judge if Crazy Heart is a good movie or not, because of these distractions (especially since the loud parts of the movie were the songs).

Here's what I noticed about Crazy Heart, without judgement:

1. It's a sad country song made into a movie.
2. It covers some of the same cultural and geographical turf as No Country for Old Men., but in a completely different genre (see 1)
3. Maggie Gyllenhall is still sexy.
4. Jeff Bridges retains the vibe of the Dude.
5. Colin Farrell is a really good actor. His supporting character was the refreshing twist that made the story go forward, and skip over certain story traps.
6. In the Third Act, the story switched from being a love story to being a story about alcoholism. This somewhat constrained the narrative at this point, due to the necessity of following current orthodoxy about this subject. The story suffered slightly due to the corresponding loss of spontaneity of the characters. Understandable. As Hepburn said, "you can't have it all, you know." See point number one.