Country Strong (2010–117 mins) G. Paltrow, G. Hedlund, L. Meester, T. McGraw

For the last year or so we have seen Gweneth Paltrow coming more and more out of her comfort zone and shell. Between being on TV a bunch with Cee Lo Green singing, and doing a great job hosting SNL she’s been in the good graces of fans for a while. So why did this movie do zilch at the box office? You would think after “Walk the Line” and “Crazy Heart” that movie goers would be fine welcoming another country music based movie, this one with both male AND females singing in it. Judging by the box office take (20 mil??) they were not.

First before I go to far, let me stress I am NOT a fan of country music at all. However, don’t worry I didn’t have any preconceived notions about the movie. We get a love quadrilateral with Kelly (Paltrow) the fresh out of rehab Country star, her husband James (McGraw), her boyfriend and upcoming country singer Beau (Hedlund), and the beauty queen wanna be country star Chiles (Meester). It sounds like something straight out of daytime television, and well, it is. Yet, it’s fairly enjoyable to watch, and the music is actually pretty good (coming from a country hater). Of course there is a downside. What starts off as the makings of a good comeback story coupled with soap opera is bogged down with tooooo much of the decent music. Every time you think the movie is going to get going, they launch into another 3-4 min country song. You start to get the feeling that they put wayyy to much music into the movie to cover up the lack if writing. Hey, um music dudes? Yeah, we are tired of writing a good story, so we are going to just make it a typical story so throw some decent original songs in there so the viewers won’t notice. Um ok? Yeah guys, we noticed.

As you can tell I think there is a good plot wrapped up in a ton of singing, BUT they take said plot and throw it in the toilet and just figure people will like the singing well enough. See, people loved “Walk the Line” more because of the singing, and loved “Crazy Heart” b/c of the plot and performance of Bridges. “Country Strong” has decent of each but not enough to be a great movie. It’s a good movie, b/c we want to root for Kelly to get back to the Emmy winning form and kick the pills and alcohol. And we really want to see which of the hot chicks Beau will end up with. If they could only flesh out the whole story and not leave James with a short end of story and holes all over the place. Good to see once if you love country music or love the actors but you won’t need to or want to watch it again if you are just in it for a good movie.

Verdict—> Country enthusiasts, and Paltrow and Hedlund lovers will thoroughly enjoy the movie. The rest of us who want to see a complete movie will be left scratching out heads. Too much music not enough plot follow through are the big wholes. As with a lot of movies I review I say it’s pretty good but not a top top recommendation. Put it on second tier if all the movies you REALLY want to see are out. Decent entertainment but not a movie I “loved”.

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