Country Strong

    
3 STARS

You gotta love country music.  I have to admit, I haven't been keeping it up with it the past 10 years.  I was a much bigger fan in the late 80's and early to mid 90's.  I've always enjoyed the genre but nothing gets to me like rock n roll.  I was raised on it and I will always be a hard core rock n roll child.  However, there will always be a place in my eardrum for some good country music.  There is supreme talent all over the place coming out of Nashville and no one can deny that.

As soon as the beginning credits of Country Strong started rolling, I knew I was going to love it. Hell, I knew when I saw the trailer for the first time last fall.  Although, when I started the film, I thought here is another predictable movie about a fallen singer who comes back at the end and then everything is okay.  And that is what the movie pretty much is about.  I did end up loving it but lets face it, the storyline is tired.

Gwyneth Paltrow portrays Kelly Canter, a multi-platinum selling, multi-Grammy winning songbird who at one time, soared through the world of country music.  This songbird's wings suddenly quit flying when she practically drowns in the booze and performs a disastrous show.  She enters rehab then, with the help of her husband and manager Charles (a head turning performance by Tim McGraw) and sponsor Beau, a struggling singer/songwriter, Kelly stages a comeback tour. 

Granted, yes, this storyline has been done time and time again.  However, if you are any kind of fan of country music, you need to see this movie.  Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw give outstanding performances and yes, that is her actually singing, as she did in Duets.  You will find there are many movies that I may not care that much for as a film but sometimes has performances that I love.  That was definitely the case here with Paltrow and McGraw.  Garrett Hedlund (Troy, Four Brothers) and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl, The Roommate) are solid but their characters do not have much depth anyway.  It really was a good movie with great music but the story itself, was nothing new.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.