by Kirsty Fowler

Created on: April 03, 2010   Last Updated: April 04, 2010

The film follows Bad Blake, a country and western singer who used to be someone. Now he has way too many marriages and spends his time drowning his sorrows in food, cigarettes and alcohol. However when a young woman called Jean starts to see the man behind the facade, will Blake reach salvation and become the man he used to be? 

The film was not perfect, by a long means. I didn’t feel cheated out of money as in a lot of places it was enjoyable and it stopped me thinking about the poor interview beforehand, but the film also was not good enough for me to go around and recommend it to everyone I knew. I think you have to be able to appreciate films and amazing acting to really appreciate this movie, if you don’t, then you will find yourself very bored and very uninterested with the pace and the story. 

If you do like Country Music and you like a nice, dare I say it, quite sweet romance story then this might be the movie for you. For me, the romance sides of things was sweet; however I did find myself feeling uncomfortable, as there was not enough chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Bridges for it to really work. 

The reason why this film really works and I think without it, it would have flopped was because Bridges and yes even Gyllenhaal’s acting was just fantastic. I knew Bridges was going to be good, with an Oscar under his belt for this movie, they are never, well rarely wrong when it comes to giving actors in specific roles a Oscar. Films are a different matter though. 

Bridges makes the character of Bad Blake likable and very multi-dimensional character which you are not really expecting. You could even compare his role to the like of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, it was not a come-back per se but it was very strong and to be honest, it wasn’t something we were really expecting. 

Gyllenhaal is fantastic in the role, it’s not the best I’ve seen her, but it shows the natural talent she does have. The only problem with her role and it’s really not her fault is that there is a very small if not no chemistry between her and Bridges, which I think this movie desperately needed. 

I struggled to work out why the film was actually made, I know you can say that about most films, but some have a point, they are sweet, funny, horrible (on purpose) or thrilling. This film was I believe supposed to be a Romantic Comedy with Music in it, but the script just didn’t seem to go anywhere. It wasn’t

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>