You have to give it up for Jeff Bridges, who delivers a fearless performance as circling-the-drain country singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. The actor sacrifices all vanity in his portrayal, raising the bar of disgust with each passing scene. When we first meet Bad, he's stumbling pants-undone out of his rusted truck after a long drive. The singer stumbles into the venue of his latest gig — a rundown bowling alley — ambles up to the bar and asks for a drink. Sorry Bad, your manager called ahead and said no tab. Shaking and broke, Bad makes his way to the local liquor store. Good thing the guy working the counter is a fan.
Bad Blake was a talented songwriter back in the day, before all the alcohol and women and marriages and the road took their pound of flesh. Bridges plays him as a broken-down echo of his former self, wandering off stage during the bowling alley gig to go puke in a garbage can out back. (Extra points for diving in after your sunglasses, Bad.) It's cool, though; Bad's a country legend who still manages to get lucky at the end of the night. OK, maybe "lucky" isn't the right word for it.
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2010.