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CRAZY HEART

"Almost Truly Redemptive"

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What You Need To Know:

CRAZY HEART is a gripping story of “Bad” Blake, a washed up country music singer whose drinking and four marriages have ruined his life. Bad is now playing bowling alleys and small bars. He meets Jeannie, a woman about 20 years his junior. Through a set of circumstances, they fall in love and begin a relationship. However, Bad’s own brokenness and alcoholism drives them apart when Bad endangers Jeannie’s young son. Jeannie leaves him, but Bad enters a recovery program and begins to write music. He begins to put his life back together. However, Jeannie is gone for good.

CRAZY HEART has an excellent cast and features top notch performances by Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal. A great story and great soundtrack complement the fine acting. CRAZY HEART comes close to being a genuine story of redemption as Bad hits rock bottom and starts to put his life back together. He’s missing the faith element, however. Sadly, CRAZY HEART has plenty of gratuitous foul language and drinking, plus strong sexual content. Overall, CRAZY HEART has much to offer as a compelling drama, but its immoral elements require extreme caution for older viewers.

Content:

(BB, C, PaPa, LLL, V, SS, N, AAA, DD, MM) Strong moral, redemptive worldview and premise as man deals with the pain of his life and stops being an alcoholic, mixed with strong pagan elements; 36 obscenities and 22 profanities; car accident, with man hurt and bleeding; strong sexual content includes two implied sex scenes and one depicted scene; upper male nudity, man in underwear, and woman in underwear; constant alcohol use and drunkenness; constant smoking by main character and one use of marijuana; and, strong miscellaneous immorality includes depicted negligence in taking care of young boy.

More Detail:

CRAZY HEART is a gripping story of “Bad” Blake (played by Jeff Bridges), a washed up country music singer whose drinking and four marriages has ruined his life. Bad is now playing bowling alleys and small bars. There, he meets Jeannie, a woman about 20 years his junior. Through a set of circumstances, they fall in love and begin a relationship.

Jeannie is a single mom, raising 4-year-old Buddy. At first, her relationship with Bad goes well, but one day Bad enters a bar when taking care of Buddy, and Buddy is lost, though later found. This breaks their relationship.

With the help of his friend Wayne (played by Robert Duvall), Bad enters a rehab center and admits he’s an alcoholic and gets sober. Meanwhile, the young man whom he mentored, Tommy (played by Colin Ferrell), has become a major country music star. Bad begins to write songs for him after they resolve their differences. Slowly Bad’s life gets put back together, though Jeannie is gone.

CRAZY HEART is a showpiece for Jeff Bridges. He plays a conflicted alcoholic who wants to do what’s right but has let his own pain and bitterness from the past rob him of the ability to even try. Maggie Gyllenhaal is amazing as Jeannie, a woman who is drawn to repeat her mistakes with men but ultimately finds the strength to make a better life for herself.

This story is extremely well written, with a combination of great plotting and great characters. The music, some of it sung by Bridges and Ferrell, is superb and creates a soundtrack of new songs mixed with country classics.

CRAZY HEART comes so close to being a genuine story of redemption as Bad hits rock bottom and starts to put his life back together. He’s missing the faith element, however. In fact, the movie doesn’t even mention the “higher power” element of his recovery from alcoholism.

There is much that warrants extreme caution in this movie. There is plenty of foul language. Bad spends much of the movie either drinking or being drunk, and he chain smokes. Also, he has a “one night stand” with a middle-aged groupie and two scenes of sex, one of them depicted, with Jeannie.

CRAZY HEART is a movie that is about people making better choices. It would have been so much better if the characters had made the best choice of faith. This could have been another TENDER MERCIES without the gratuitous negative parts.

Overall, CRAZY HEART has much to offer as a compelling drama but requires extreme caution and much discernment for its immoral elements.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.