Country Strong

Shana Feste's Country Strong is a well-meaning film that never quite connected with me. It's well-acted, and the large variety of country music (most of it original to the film) is sure to sell more than a few soundtracks to fans. But the entire time, I felt like I was being kept at a distance from the characters. The movie is a fairly standard "behind the music" melodrama that knows what story beats and cliches to hit, but it doesn't know how to make us care about them.

As the film opens, we're introduced to Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), a star in the country music world who has fallen on hard times personally, and is being forced into a comeback by her husband/manager, James (Tim McGraw). We learn that months ago, Kelly was drunk while giving a concert, fell off the stage, and miscarried a five month pregnancy. She's been at rehab since then, trying to put her life together, and flirting with one of the orderlies there. That would be Beau (Garrett Hedlund from Tron: Legacy), who aspires to be a country singer and songwriter if somebody would just give him a chance. James checks Kelly out of rehab a month early, eager to get her back on the road, and stage a massive comeback tour. Kelly agrees, but only if Beau gets to be her opening act. James, however, has another opening act in mind - a former beauty queen turned wannabe singer, Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester).

The movie sets up its multiple plots quickly. Kelly and Beau are obviously attracted to each other, as Kelly feels the love has gone out of her relationship with her husband. But has it really? The marriage between Kelly and James seems to be whatever the screenplay wants it to be, whenever it deems it convenient. Sometimes, James is a cold and distant husband. Sometimes, he's cruel and harsh. And sometimes, he's soft and sympathetic. We don't spend enough time alone with these characters to truly get an angle on just how they feel about each other. Likewise, we don't get close enough to Kelly to fully understand her past demons. We know she has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, but don't really get a clear picture as to what has caused it. Was it the stress of her career? Stress of her marriage? The movie doesn't so much develop these characters, rather it checks off the expected cliches (substance abuse, marriage on the rocks), and expects that to be enough.

There are similar problems for the other two main characters in the story - Beau and Chiles. At the beginning, Beau resents Chiles, seeing her as a spoiled and talentless girl who gets by on her looks. The movie seems to feel the same way, and depicts Chiles as being almost shallow early on. Still, Beau ends up helping her out when she freezes on stage while singing a song. Seeing them sing together is enough to convince James to bring them both along on his wife's comeback tour as the opening act. Once again, Beau is not happy about this. And yet, as the movie goes on, Chiles' personality begins to soften, and darn it, she actually starts to show that she's more than just a pretty face. Suddenly, Beau starts to feel romantically drawn to her, and the movie starts to like her, too. It feels forced, though. The feelings they develop for each other seems like a necessity for the script, rather than a natural thing that develops over time.

It doesn't take long for Country Strong to start to resemble a patchwork that's been stitched together from the pieces of other movies. It doesn't help that Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges is still fresh in everyone's mind, and dealt with the story of a self-destructive country singer in a much more honest way. It also becomes a jumbled mess of emotions, as characters fall in and out of love with each other, seemingly at the drop of a hat, and some scenes just don't add up. Characters also suffer, as they seem to be only partially developed. The character of James is a good example of this. Even though he's played with a wide range of emotions by Tim McGraw, we never get a sense for just who he is, as the movie doesn't spend enough time with him. Just like his relationship with his wife, the film is content to just give us the bare essentials.

But, of course, some people won't care about that. They'll only care about how the movie looks and sounds. And does it ever look and sound good. The performances are great all the way around, even when the script gives them little to work with. But it's the music performances (of which there are many) that the film is rightfully banking on. The songs are spirited, and the performances (especially the one by Paltrow) are genuine show-stoppers. The movie shows a real knowledge for talent and flashy entertainment, but whenever the characters step off stage, it gets thrown out of its comfort zone. Paltrow comes across as a natural up on stage, performing in front of stadiums. Quite an impressive feat. But when it comes time for us to feel for her, we're left feeling cold.

I'm certain that Country Strong will have its fans and supporters, and I wish more power to them. I just never felt for anyone up on the screen the way I think the filmmakers intended. Maybe you have to be really into the country music scene in order to pick up on little things that make the movie seem more natural or real. All I know is I felt like an outsider looking in.

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