Crazy Heart Blu-ray
Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a lonely country singer who whose career has entered the new low of playing in bowling alleys but a new love interest turns his life around.
Film making 23/25
Video 22/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 5/25
Total 70/100
Bad Blake is an old has been country singer who now drives from small town bar to bowling alley playing his old hits that only the old folks even know. He drinks and smokes till he gets sick on stage and coughs during his songs that doesn't seem to bother him all that much in the grand scheme of his life.
When he ends up meeting the niece of a piano player in a bar for an interview she winds up falling for him even with his numerous bad habits. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jean Craddock who falls gently for Bad Blake even though she sees clearly his drinking problems and the current path his career is on.
When Bad takes Jeans five year old son for a time while Jean gets some rest Bad takes him to a bar in a mall and loses him. Jean sees him for what he is throughout the film but she still let him take care of her son thinking everything would turn out alright.
Bad Blake continues to drink for a little while after Jean throws him out but his ego and past success can't continue to get in the way of his need to atone for his losing Jeans son. Bad asks his old friend Wayne played by Robert Duvall for help and he winds up in a treatment facility to get sober.
Months later he meets Jean after a concert and although she still likes him she has moved on and found someone else, Bad even tells her he probably shouldn't see her son. Bad writes one last song which he sells to newcomer Tommy Sweet played by Colin Farrell which is the best work of his life.
Crazy Heart plays much like the typical sad and based on real life country songs and Jeff Bridges really plays the role of Bad Blake well earning him an Oscar for Best Actor. The film really does a great job of showing the real life country singer has been who does get his last shot at a hit song even if he doesn't sing it.
Crazy Heart also breaks from the normal as the guy doesn't get the girl as she has moved on and he recognizes that all worked out for the best. The movie does an excellent job of taking the same old song and showing that with a good set of actors and direction you can still make a good film with pretty much the same old story.
Crazy Heart has some great video with good color and excellent high definition but audio was actually not the best. Video looked very good even when Bad Blake did not, color looked great even with him in his usual drunken stupor with stunningly clear and vibrant color.
I found the audio lacking in clarity and rear speaker use but the songs and stage songs were really good but the DTS-HD Master Audio was pretty good in the end. Audio was very good but for Blu-ray the common thing is audio usually beats out video in quality but not in Crazy Heart on Blu-ray.
Crazy Heart had a poor showing for extra content in the Blu-ray release with a half hour of deleted scenes and alternate music cuts. There is a trailer and a three minute talk with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal about getting together for the movie but that's it.
The bonus features are not really any reason to buy the Blu-ray edition but the great video and well done but slightly lacking audio may be if you want the better high definition. Crazy Heart is well worth a rental and a purchase would be recommended if you like a good old county singer sad story with a bit of a twist and fantastic acting.