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Crazy Heart

Cine

Nope, sorry, I'm not on the bandwagon for this by-the-numbers hard-living-artist-saved-by-the-love-of-a-good-woman phone-in. Yes, Jeff Bridges nails it, but he doesn't show us anything here he hasn't shown us for umptyleven years, and as much as I love Maggie Gyllenhaal, if the Academy is going to start handing out Oscar nominations for undistinguished, workpersonlike performances, then it needs to think about expanding the acting categories to 10 slots apiece, too, maybe 15.

Plus, maybe I've just lost track with falling in love, but can it really be that easy under the best of circumstances, to say nothing of when the guy's a complete mess and twice the woman's age? Age--maybe that's part of the problem I have with this: twice Bad tells us that he's 57 years old, as if that explains why he seems ancient; is ancient really that close?

Well, if nothing else, good to see the Cine again, and to eat its popcorn.

Trailer

• Date Night--Carell and Fey in a North by Northwest-style mistaken-identity comic farce? Oh, hell, yeah! Laughed my ass off at the trailer, not because the lines were necessarily funny but because these two are just so. fucking. good.