Country Strong

As I engage in my strange obsession with seeing all films that receive Oscar nominations, I end up seeing movies I ordinarily would never see. Country Strong is one of them. I don't care for country music, at least the currently popular kind, with guys who have never ridden a horse wearing cowboy hats. I like old country, like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson, but I think country was ruined by Garth Brooks and is now full of posers.

Anyway, my personal prejudices aside, there's no reason a movie about country music can't be interesting. This one is not. It seems like a vanity project for star Gwyneth Paltrow, allowing her to sing and go on mascara-running crying jags, and stumbling about in alcoholic stupors, as if begging for an award nomination (which she didn't get). What's fascinating is that the movie is almost stolen away from her by Leighton Meester. This film reinforced by little crush on her, and convinced me she can actually act.

Paltrow is a big country star in rehab. Her cold-blooded, bottom-line husband (Tim McGraw), who is also her manager, gets her out early. She has started an affair with an orderly (Garrett Hedlund), who also plays old-style country in small venues. McGraw, not liking Hedlund very much, hires him to be an opening act for Paltrow's comeback tour, because he thinks he can keep an eye on her. Also hired to be on the bill is Meester, who presents an innocent, beauty-pageant image and hopes to be the next Carrie Underwood. Hedlund, who doesn't like her (at first) calls her a "country Barbie," and she takes it as a compliment.

So then we get all the showbiz movie cliches. Paltrow breaks down in her first concert. Hedlund and Meester eventually become attracted to each other. McGraw and Paltrow wonder where the spark went out of their marriage. None of it is original, but Meester's character and performance kept me interested, as she gave a nice spin to the typical role of a person who wants fame at any cost. The character could have been a stereotype, but Meester gave her additional depth.

As for the rest, blah. I'm not sure why Hedlund is such a flavor of the month. Here and in Tron: Legacy he didn't show me much charisma.

The film was written and directed by Shana Feste, and oddly enough, co-produced by Tobey Maguire.