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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Jan 13, 2011
From “Country Strong.” – Photo: Courtesy
Country wrong is more like it. How Shana Feste, writer/director of the powerful “The Greatest,” can be responsible for this Southern-fried fiasco is a mystery. A cheap patchwork quilt of a flick, with sewn together swatches of “A Star Is Born,” “Crazy Heart,” “Dreamgirls” and “All About Eve,” “Country Strong” is thoroughly weak.
When aspiring singer/songwriter Beau (gorgeous Garrett Hedlund, the best thing here, as he was in “TRON: Legacy”) isn’t playing Nashville barn dances, he works as an orderly at a rehab facility. That’s where he meets Kelly (Gwynneth Paltrow, who can sing even if she can’t act), a country superstar in recovery. She’s struggling not only with substance abuse, but also the loss of her unborn child following a drunken tumble from a Dallas stage.
Kelly’s hubby James (Tim McGraw) wants his meal ticket back on her feet and back on stage, so he secures her early release. Kelly wants Beau (who she’s banging) to be her opening act, but James has his heart set on semi-beauty queen Chiles (Leighton Meester). Let’s just say they both get their wishes and soon the tour buses are heading toward Texas.
Predictably, Kelly falls off the wagon as regularly as Sarah Palin shoots critters. Beau finds himself pulled in various directions as Kelly’s lover, caregiver and opening act and the object of Chiles’ interest and James’ disdain. Meanwhile, Kelly and James’ marriage begins to crumble as Kelly unravels on tour, even breaking down on stage in Houston. James’ lack of sensitivity to his wife’s situation is exacerbated when he books studio time with Chiles to record a song that Kelly wanted to sing.
With all odds against her, Kelly must prove herself in Dallas. And wouldn’t you know it, she does! But more tragedy lurks just around the corner.
Disappointing and clichéd on multiple levels, time will tell if “Country Strong” is Feste’s two-step misstep or a sign of things to come.
