(2010) A broke and broken-down country-western singer, Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges, looking like Kris Kristofferson), a limping legend on the road in his '78 Suburban "Bessie" into Pueblo, NM, performs in a bowling alley (for room and board but no bar tab) with a local backup band of kids, playing requests of his golden oldies ("I Don't Know" for Bill and Beverly); he gets sick to his stomach before he can finish his set.

Jack (James Keane), his manager, calls, asking him for new material, to which Bad replies: "Nothing wrong with the old stuff." A hard-drinker and heavy-smoker, at 57 Bad's in bad shape, yet still attracting older female fans at the end of his shows. When his piano player in Santa Fe, Wesley Barnes (Rick Dial), asks Bad for a favor, to allow his niece, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a reporter for the local paper, an interview, Bad acquiesces.

He tells her how he started playing guitar, his musical influences, and his decision to stick with the guitar over swinging a baseball bat (couldn't hit a curveball); she mentions his five divorces (four, he corrects). Any kids? He doesn't respond. They get to know each other over three nights; a single mother, she has a four-year-old boy Buddy. He goes home with Jean to make biscuits for her and her son. (Brought to mind Kinky Friedman's lyrics: "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed.")

Jack calls to say Bad's been made an offer to open before 12,000 fans for the new country star Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) in Phoenix. Having been on tour and albums together, Bad mentored Tommy, who's appreciative ("taught me everything I know"), though Bad's envious of the younger musician's fame and fortune. When Bad suggests they do another duet recording together, since he's in need of money, Tommy says he'd like to but his management expects him to cut more singles while he's so popular; however, if Bad would write a handful of songs (Tommy's short on new tunes), he could earn a good return on the royalties.

On the way back to Santa Fe, Bad dozes off at the wheel and rolls his vehicle; he ends up in the hospital with a concussion and fractured ankle. Worse than the recent injuries, the doctor warns Bad that he must quit the booze and tobacco plus lose 25 pounds. Laid up at Jean's, he begins writing songs for the first time in three years.

Jack calls with a warning: "Don't marry your friend." Tommy has offered to pay $75,000 for a new album from Bad. Ignoring the doctor's orders, Bad also confides to Jean that he has a son somewhere in Texas, whom at the age of four he abandoned along with the mother.

After driving home to Houston and dropping in to see his best friend Wayne (Robert Duvall), a reformed alcoholic who owns a bar, Bad calls his son: "I want to see you." Steven Reynolds answers: "I don't think so." Too little, too late.

It all sounds like something from which a country-western song might be crafted by director and co-producer Scott Cooper, who adapted Thomas Cobb's novel into the screenplay. The songs (most composed by Stephen Bruton, who didn't live to see the film's release, and T Bone Burnett) are genuine leather; Bridges's and Farrell's voices sound authentic. Unfortunately something's out of key. Why would an attractive woman, nearly half his age, fall for Bad?

His vehicle after the accident shows no indication of damage; he's out of the ankle cast within days rather than weeks. Out fishing Wayne urges Bad, drinking "barley pops," not to give up on trying to communicate with his son. Convincing Jean he's capable of taking care of Buddy (a substitute for his own four-year-old he neglected a few decades earlier) on a trip into Houston, Bad then loses track of the child while getting a drink in a bar, thereby losing Jean and her trust.

The narrative's focus wanders; the strings on the instrument being played haven't been tightened to stay in tune. I'd recommend instead Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall, who sings the final selection at the end credits.

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Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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