Recently a film came out titled “Country Strong.” Judging by the title, I wrote it off as the stereotypical country song turned movie, complete with he cheated/she left/she came back—yada,yada. However, I found myself with nothing else to do on a Friday night, so I tagged along to see it. I stopped rolling my eyes after the first three minutes of the movie; I was actually enjoying it.
The movie begins with the life of a small-town country star, Bo, played by Garrett Hedlund. We follow Bo as he plays with his band at a local honky tonk, where he is obviously very popular. He then goes to his day job at a drug rehabilitation facility, where the audience is introduced to Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), a down-and-out country star trying to get back on her feet so she can go back on the road. There’s a little sizzle between the Bo and Kelly, which complicates things when her husband (Tim McGraw) enters the picture.
The story goes on to describe the life of the country stars and the love rectangle that forms when Leighton Meester is introduced as a beauty queen superstar on the rise. Although she starts off obnoxiously sweet, Meester’s character quickly became my favorite. Her innocence is easy to love because it’s not an obnoxious idiotic innocence, but more of an I-really-don’t-have-a-clue pureness. She is brought along to be the opening act, along with Hedlund, for Paltrow’s return tour.
The film chronicles the struggles of Paltrow to stay clean as she faces some of the skeletons in her closet. The ups and downs of her marriage, career and life outside of the public eye are sometimes frustrating as she relapses not only in drugs, but in cheating on her husband.
However, we see glimpses of her talent and the kind of person she was before she got hooked on drugs and alcohol, such as when she attends a Make-a-Wish function and comes up with a song off the top of her head to sing to a little boy. These glimpses become the saving grace of her character, and I found myself rooting for her to be successful in the end. However, not all wishes come true, and the end of this movie is quite surprising.
From the beginning of the movie, the audience expects the love story of Hedlund and Paltrow, but once the tour begins, we quickly realize that the real love interest of the film lies elsewhere. However, Hedlund works his way into the hearts of both of the main women in the movie by playing the heroic figure. Countless times Hedlund rescues Paltrow when her husband (McGraw) is too busy working for her to remember his role as a husband. Hedlund also steps up to the plate when Meester needs help overcoming her stage fright.
The selling point of this movie for me was the soundtrack, as one would expect from a movie about country stars. The power anthems call for singing loudly in your car, and the slow songs are definitely worth a download. Not to mention that all of the actors sang their own songs, and I was especially impressed by Gwyneth Paltrow’s vocals.
Overall, I really liked this movie, and so have all the other people I have talked to. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was terribly wrong about this movie, and I’m glad I was. Country Strong is worth a $10 ticket, and I will definitely buy the DVD.
