cinema HYPE

By: Rae Volinsky

Some have never heard of this movie. Many have not seen trailers or TV spots, but most have heard about its nominations and wins at award shows. This movie is Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Colin Farrell.

Crazy Heart is a story about Bad Blake (Bridges), a run-down country singer who tries to turn his life around after starting a relationship with a journalist (Gyllenhaal.)

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Crazy Heart has earned $6,657,379 as of January 31, 2010. That’s not bad for a independent movie open in only 239 theaters and one that is competing against Avatar, one of the biggest movies of all time.

The film has 19 nominations and has won 13 awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. It is up for three Oscars, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Bridges.

So why is Crazy Heart so popular? I am going to place my bet on the buzz surrounding the nominations and wins for the movie and not from the little advertisements and appearances done by the actors. We have seen this before in Hollywood, especially in last year's big winner "Slumdog Millionaire." According to The New York Times, Slumdog Millionaire was produced "for peanuts" and "that movie won a best picture Oscar and took in $14.3 million in domestic sales..."

The latest news for Crazy Heart is its Oscar nominations. The Academy Awards will be on March 7 and we can only wait until then to see how much farther this movie will succeed.