Saturday, February 8, 2014

Review #10: Country Strong

Country Strong


Release Date: January 7th, 2011
Writer: Shana Feste

Director: Shana Feste

Logline: A rising country-music songwriter works with a fallen star to work their way fame, causing romantic complications along the way. (Source: IMDb) Music/Drama. 117 minutes.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.


Review
I should preface this by saying I'm not a fan of country music in the slightest, but I tried not to let that dissuade me from enjoying this movie. A story is a story, right?

The problem with Country Strong is not the 'country,' it's the long overblown dramatic script.

This movie is about a country music superstar Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her shaky emotional journey with fame, alcoholism, an unhappy marriage, and a miscarriage. She is thrown out of rehab by her evil husband and manager, James Canter (Tim McGraw) in order to go on a comback tour with her new boyfriend Beau (Garrett Hedlund) and a growing new star Chiles (Leighton Meester) as her opening acts.

Gwyneth Paltrow in Country Strong
The thing that surprised me most about Country Strong was the quality of acting. Paltrow was on point as someone in the midst of a meltdown. She's not just "crazy," she's traumatized and affected by the media storm around her. No surprise, Meester was charming in her role, adding a dimension to her character even though that character was paper thin to begin with. Adorable Garrett Hedlund was as great as he always it, but surprise of the century for me was that Tim McGraw can act! And he's the only character that doesn't sing in the movie! Honestly, this was a great cast.

The rest of the movie is not of the same quality. I get the sense that this film was written with the intention of winning awards. It's heavy handed with drama with absolutely no reprieve. The unnecessarily long piece hammers home the unhappiness of the main character to the point where there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It tries so hard to make cliches seem real, that you might start believing the cliches are a red herring, that the movie will take an unexpected turn. Unfortunately it does not, and it become the most drearily predictable film. I felt awkward continuing to watch and pretending not to know what would happen, when it was laid out so obviously. Combined with the unnecessary length, this was almost unbearable.

Garrett Hedlund Leighton Meester in Country Strong
I also was a little bit frustrated by the flat nature of the story. Kelly was still reeling from this one big event in her life, but what about before that? Country music is typically known for being birthed from pain and struggle. In this case there are three individuals in country music and none of them have a survivor back story. Even Taylor Swift was teased in school and had a unrequited love. Give the audience something, they know country music and they can smell a fake.

This movie distinctly earned a big SKIP, which really should be a surprise to no one.

Portrayal of Women: The women in this movie are as cliched as the men. They are all preoccupied with their relationships with one another, and they are all paper thin. 

One could analyze the cliches, like the jaded older alcoholic and the young, innocent, naive girl. They are not really constructive, unique characters that maybe set back the portrayal of gender 30 years, but that's a difficult argument to make when the husband is a money grubbing evil guy, and the other guy is a white knight who cares so much but just can't save the princess. They're all cartoon characters, equally as thin and equally as unoriginal. 

Sisterhood moment: This movie passes the Bechdel test with one scene, with the Superstar visiting the Up-And-Comer and giving her showbiz advice like "wear heels everywhere" and "don't wear satin on stage" despite their rocky relationship. That's sisterhood. That's also super good advice. Satin never looks good photographed. 

There's also a scene where Gwyneth's character is getting ready to go on stage and hair dresser is randomly poking at her scalp with a comb. 10 seconds later her hair is beautifully styled in big country curls. That's the real dream.

Rating: 2/5

IMDb - Country Strong (6.3)
Wikipedia - Country Strong
Rotten Tomatoes - Country Strong (22%)

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