CRAZY HEART: REVIEW

CRAZY HEART is a quiet, beautiful film. It has Jeff Bridges in his finest hour, playing Bad Blake, a musician who use to be somebody and now is a nobody who plays bowling alleys and bars. He's still given free hotel rooms and food by the people who run the bowling alleys, but no free booze. You see, it's a specific clause in his contract: No Tabs at the bar.

That doesn't stop Bad Blake from getting free booze. Not in the ways you think. And yeah, he's a drunk, but not in the way you think. He doesn't make big scenes. He stumbles off stage during a gig, vomits, sits, then goes back and finishes the set. It ain't pretty, but as he mumbles, "Bad Blake's never missed a gig." Bad Blake also pretty much survives by writing music for Tommy (Colin Farrell singing country, yes, Colin Farrell), who used to be his pupil and is now selling out country arenas. Ah, well.

CRAZY HEART is pretty much WALK THE LINE, only it feels more real than WALK THE LINE, which is interesting when because WALK THE LINE is based on a true story and CRAZY HEART is fiction. But CRAZY HEART feels more like how it would really happen with the story of the washed up alcoholic genius singer/songwriter who might get it right this time. Because alcoholics either get worse or they get better. The problem is, of course, not exactly when they get worse, because if they get worse, they get worse. The problem is, even when they get better, it doesn't mean that life waits around to greet them with a smile when they get out of rehab.

I'm making the film sound like an epic downer. It isn't. CRAZY HEART has a lot of sorrow, but also a lot of humor and truth. And what sorrow there is wistful sorrow, the better kind of sorrow. Better because wistful is more interesting, at least to me. The idea of "Ah, well..." has a lot more gas in the tank than "Oh, no" or the ever popular "Why me, Lord?"

There's a lot of nice touches and little twists on this well-worn story. Yes, Blake meets a girl (Maggie Gyllenhaal) with a son, but there's more to her than you would think. Yes, Tommy has bypassed Blake in popularity, but he's actually a nice guy; who often gives credit to Blake and offers to cut an album with him. Yes, Blake has an old friend who looks after him (Robert Duvall), but he's not an enabler or a lecturer, he's a bartender who knows well the risks and rewards of booze. Yes, Blake's alcoholism leads to disaster, but not in obvious, scene-causing ways. Blake's biggest mistake, when it finally comes, could really happen to anyone. The problem is, it happens to him right after he's ordered a double whiskey at lunchtime.

There's a scene between Blake and his bartender in a fishing boat where they discuss mistakes. Listen to the dialogue. Blake has a son that he's never seen in years, who he finally called, and the call didn't go well. Blake thinks that his own gesture is too little, too late. Bartender disagrees: "For 25 years, you stepped wrong, and you were wrong, and he was right. But now you've stepped right, and he's in the wrong, and you're in the right." Blake isn't sure. Bartender is. The point is which of them is right, the point is it's an actual discussion.

Nothing much happens in CRAZY HEART. Nothing much has to, when you have actors this good, writing this good and amazing original music, produced by T Bone Burnett. It never steps wrong, never sounds a false note, and actually takes the time to let you listen to the music. Let me be clear: nothing really happens in this movie. Sure, interesting characters live, breathe, change and think; but there's no epic romance or plot twists or plot, really. If it sounds boring, well, I can't help you, but I can warn you. Me, I found myself caring deeply about what happened to this washed up old man.

There was a movie released in 2006 called ONCE, about an irish singer songwriter and the girl that makes him want to be a better man. But no real plot to speak of. CRAZY HEART is the country version of ONCE. That's not just high praise, it's the truth. And I don't even like country music.

RATING: * * * * * (out of 5 Stars)

P.S. The soundtrack is mostly original songs sung by Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell. It's really, really good. Really.

HOLIDAY MOVIE MADNESS: HOLIDAY HARDER

Today's all about Scrooge, comma, Ebenezer.

"A Christmas Carol", the story, is really about Scrooge. The myth of Scrooge only works if we (a) truly believe his misanthropy and (b) believe he may not be redeemable and (c) still want to pull for him. It helps if the ghosts are neat and Tiny Tim is more than a tearjerking puppet, but basically, if you have Scrooge, you have a show.

Of course, what if you have two movies where the Scrooge is quite good, but the takes are quite different?

Therefore, here are two different takes on the story, one with a modern day -circa 1988- Bill Murray, the other with Muppets. Have at thee!

SCROOGED



SCROOGED works on so many levels that it comes as a shock that it almost completely falls apart. Strike that. Reverse it. SCROOGED has such a bad critical reputation as a flop and a turkey that it's a shock to see how good it is, right up until the end. And even then, it's pretty good.

What SCROOGED does right is to re-invent A CHRISTMAS CAROL for today, or at least, today circa 1988. It is hard to age well when your movie is set "now", but SCROOGED manages to become a pretty good capsule for everything wrong about the end of the Reagan era. Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, aka Scrooge 88', television executive and a real sonofabitch. Scrooge 88/Frank doesn't hate Christmas, in fact, he loves it. "It's cold and people stay home and watch TV. These idiots are going to be at home watching TV for me tonight!"

Frank's entire career is riding on a (somewhat implausible) live broadcast of "Christmas Carol", starring Buddy Hackett, Mary Lou-Reton, and for no good reason, John Houseman as himself, as the narrator. When Frank's boss asks what how the show will appeal to the dog and cat demographic (really), Frank comes up with doormice. When they can't get the little antlers onto the doormice, Frank suggests using a stapler. In short, Frank's a real bastard, and Murray's performance is the key to what success the movie has.

A critical shot at the beginning of the film gets the message through. Murray's about to unload on his staff at a meeting, for he has found their television promos wanting. Right before he opens his mouth, he pulls open a drawer at his conference table that contains nothing but a mirror. He looks at himself.


He then smiles and winks at himself.



Then he shoots his staff a look, which we see reflected in the mirror.



This whole shot takes about 3 seconds. But in that 3 seconds, you get a miserable man, forcing himself to be amused at what he does, followed by a look of such reptilian disgust that you either want to leave the room or slap him, and then leave the room.

So we have a fantastic Scrooge. Do we have a movie? Yes, to a point.

Director Richard Donner's career has been made of muscular, competent action pictures (LETHAL WEAPON, et al). So he may have seemed like an odd choice for a dark Christmas comedy. But recall that most of his movies have a wicked sense of humor (SUPERMAN and MAVERICK). And he knows how to handle effects; the scene with the Jacob Marley character is particularly impressive.

So most of SCROOGE is handled nice and dark, and yet somehow Christmas-y at the same time. The whole picture is bathed in an eery chill, you can feel the cold temperature and terror as Frank's life spins completely out of control. The score is early Danny Elfman, which means it's creepy while having some wit. And the way the story is restructured is mostly succcessful, with some nice curveballs. (One nice twist is that there's no time frame on when the ghosts will appear, so we don't get the usual "at the strike of one!" predictablility.)

So with all the praise going around, what's the problem? Other than unnecessarily splitting the Bob Crachit character between two people (Bobcat Golthwait and Alfre Woodward, both good but without much to do), the whole thing starts to fall apart in the third act. The first two ghosts are funny, creepy and present events that seem more or less real. The future scenes are heavily styilized, in terms of acting and production design. We go from sets designed to look like real places to sets that look like rejected Tim Burton houses. The characters in Frank's life, represented in the future by the same actors with poor age make-up, suddenly play their roles in very heavy-handed ways. Even the unstoppable Karen Allen, who was the best thing about INDY 4 and a lot of other movies, and who is mostly great here, comes off wrong. Had the rest of the hauntings been over the top, it might have worked, but they weren't and so it doesn't.

But nothing in the third ghost scenes prepares us for the finale. After having the bejesus scared out of him, the movie ends with Frank basically having a mental breakdown on National Television. It's not funny, it's not sad, it's not heartwarming. It's just kind of awkward, and it fills the ending with an ambiguity that I'm not sure was intentional.

And then, instead of dealing with the fallout from his live national speech, the movie basically turns into a sing-a-long, with Murray talking into the camera and all the ghosts (including the cadaver of Marley) appearing on a piece of scenery to cheer him on. It's all so very strange, not strange wonderful, just strange strange.

Yet, for all the implosion of the ending, SCROOGE retains great power, and has great laughs. Even as it stumbles across the finish line, it still is one of the few re-tellings of CHRISTMAS CAROL that actually finds new threads in a very well-tread story. I cringe at the ending, but I still rewatch the movie almost every year.

Anyway, how bad can a movie be when it starts with a fake trailer for THE NIGHT THE REINDEER DIED, with Lee Majors as the only man who can save Santa's Workshop from Terrorists? Also, Robert Goulet shows up for a "Cajun Christmas" special, which involves him singing while trying to get away from a hungry alligator. Nice.

RATING: * * * * (out of 5 Stars)

A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

It is odd that a movie retelling of a classic tale with Muppets can be so faithful to the source material that it basically plays like the same story, only with Muppets. Don't look at me like that. THE MUPPET SHOW managed to have lots of re-telling of classic stories, only to stand it on its head at odd angles. Even MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND had a musical number that involved hula skirts, and Tim Curry making strange un-pirate like demands.

But the only real change that MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL makes to the source material is to add a unnecessary yet indispensable narrator. Unnecessary because the story is simple enough it doesn't need one, but indispensable because the narrator is Gonzo, who despite all appearances claims to be Charles Dickens. Accompanied by Rizzo the Rat, Gonzo pretty much sticks to the script, but the fact that the script is being performed by a fuzzy blue weirdo is what gives the movie a lot of its mirth.

Michael Caine is Scrooge, and while he doesn't do anything majorly different with the role, he stands out by being... well, Michael Caine. When the man wants to be good, he can be. And here, he is terrific, treating Kermit and the other Muppets more or less as if they were real actors. The better Muppet movies are distinguished by actors who don't act as if they're in a Muppet movie, and Caine is up to the task.

Missing, however, is the Jim Henson sense of the absurd that drives this material over the top. MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL is warm, cute and, unfortunately, a little heavy on the sap. Kermit, in particular, is pretty much wasted as Bob Crachit. He's nice without that subtle wit and occasional temper that makes Kermit a special soul. Here, he's pretty much a gentle pushover. Don't get me started on how they use Ms. Piggy.

The biggest mistake the movie makes, however, are the musical numbers. They're bad. They're pointless. Most of them don't advance the plot one whit. The one exception is "Marley and Marley", which is not only propels the action, but is fun and creepy.


Fortunately, the Ghost of Christmas Present segment is done well, with a giant friendly Fraggle-Rock style giant Muppet. And credit where it is due: the movie actually handles the hardest chapter of "A Christmas Carol", the Ghost of Christmas Future, better than most versions. It doesn't get cute or over the top, but merely shows a cold and desolate future ahead. Even Dickens/Gonzo is put off, telling the audience that "We'll see you for the finale."

The finale, unfortuantely, is yet another trecale-y song. But that's what the fast forward button is for. A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL remains a pretty-good version of the classic tale, featuring Michael Caine and Muppets. If that sounds like fun to you, then it is! If it doesn't, well, I can't blame you.

RATING: * * * (out of 5 Stars).

P.S. The Fullscreen version of MUPPET on DVD is the "extended version", which features an additional song that is notable because (a) it involves no Muppets whatsoever and (b) it is the most unnecessary of all the songs in the movie. Stick with the Widescreen cut, where you not only have the whole image, but you don't have to sit through three minutes of some woman singing to young Scrooge about she's no longer in love with him.