I was fortunate to be invited to a special advance screening of a new movie called “Crazy Heart”, followed by a PGA-organized Q&A with the actors and director. The latter admitted that he wanted to do a movie on Merle Haggard but that it was too complicated and so he turned to this novel about a “richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake, who is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer with far too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times”. Bad Blake is a very well written character masterfully interpreted by the great Jeff Bridges. His co-star Maggie Gyllenhall is the younger journalist woman “who discovers the real man behind the musician” and falls for him “as he struggles down the road of redemption and learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart”.

Produced by Scott Cooper (who also directed), Robert Duvall (who also plays a part), Rob Carliner, Judy Cairo and the great T-Bone Burnett, this movie has a LOT of great AND original country music produced by T-Bone for the film and very well executed by Bridges himself (backed by the same great band who did the 5-time Grammy Winning Plant/Krauss rhyhm tracks)!

Great music film you should favor over other blockbusters this holiday season!