First Hit: A far cry from last year’s intense and well executed “Crazy Heart”, this film falls flat everywhere.
I really wanted to see this film. I wanted to see Gwyneth Paltrow deliver like I know she can.
But what this film does is compromise every character in every way. If you want us to believe Kelly Canter (Paltrow) is a raging out of control drunk, and then give it to us – early. What we get is her lying on her bed in rehabilitation, dreamy eyed while listening to Beau Hutton (played by Garrett Hedlund) create a song.
When they decide to show us her darker drunk side, believe me it doesn’t stand up as real. Her husband James (played by Tim McGraw) is her manager and has, long ago, lost contact with Kelly. But why? He keeps her going with stories of their past about how much he loved her. He is also in pain because Kelly, while drunk, fell off a stage a year earlier while 5 months pregnant and lost their baby.
Maybe this is where the film needed to begin. Maybe the film needed to identify what their relationship was like prior to Kelly being pregnant. But this isn’t what happened. Kelly is having an affair with Beau. Kelly thinks James is having an affair with new singing talent Chiles Stanton (played by Leighton Meester).
James is obviously attempting to keep the gravy train rolling while hoping to heal his inner demons. Kelly is clearly a lost woman and only seems to light up with someone compliments her or when the audience praises her. Beau pretends to be the keeper of the truth in the film, but he is just a screwed up in his ability to communicate effectively. Chiles is simply starstruck and believes in fairy tales and that she will be happy being a big country star. She is totally unprepared for her next step.
The only time the film tries to put context to Kelly's life as a star against Chiles naivete is when Kelly comes into her dressing room and tells her all that she knows to be true about this life Chiles has chosen.
Paltrow is either a victim of a poor script, poor direction, or just a poor performance. I think she tried, but the basis of this story needed to be re-worked. McGraw is very reserved and felt very constricted in this role. Again, the script, direction, or that he lacked the chops to deliver something other than a mediocre performance. Hedlund felt like a one trick pony. He provided little depth throughout the film although he probably had the best lines and enough screen time to make something work. Meester is moderately believable and her doe eyes and innocence wouldn't have allowed her to get as far as she had gotten in the music world. Shana Feste wrote and directed this poorly constructed film. It was a long way from being well thought out. How she got this kind of talent engaged with this script is beyond me.
Overall: This is a barely watchable film with no lessons or redeeming value.