Country Strong

I'm not really a country music fan at all but I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It's a superb character driven film that goes way beyond any musical persuasion. The performances are remarkable and I can see why they had to release this for awards consideration. Tim McGraw was shockingly good (he can really act!)and Gwyneth Paltrow delivers a better performance than Jeff Bridges did in his Oscar win of a year ago. (Don't get me wrong, Bridges was great but Gwyneth really brought it in this role) In fact, this film tops "Crazy Heart" by quite a large margin. You really care about these characters and events of the film really throw you because it's anything but predictable.

My wife & I went to the screening of this movie (7/15/10)not knowing a lot about it. We just knew it had country music in it. Not being country music fans we were not sure how we would like it. We both thought it was a great movie. The acting, story & music was excellent.I am not able to go into too much detail abut the movie yet. But will when the trailers are released. I believe you will enjoy this movie greatly! It is hard to compare it with other movies I have seen but I guess you would call it a Drama / romance movie. I think it will appeal to people in their 20's and up. Maybe a date movie? This movie is NOT just for people that like Country Music. As I stated I am not a Country music fan but came out thinking I would not mind owning the soundtrack. It is a must see when it comes out in Dec. You will not be disappointed

Tim McGraw doesn't sing in the movie. He and Gwyneth sing a duet but it is played over the credits. Tim's acting continues to improve. He is obviously ready for starring roles. Maybe a Western? The real surprise is Garrett Hedlund who all but steals the movie. He has a terrific baritone & should definitely do an album. Either a cover album or a CD of original music. Leighton Meester also does well in a supporting role. Ms. Paltrow delivers a fully realized performance as a country Judy Garland type. Robert Altman has already covered much of this territory in his masterpiece Nashville which contains a character based loosely on Loretta Lynn. Country Strong is a more updated version. The soundtrack is excellent.

I loved this movie. It wasn't what I expected at all, but I really enjoyed it and did tear up a couple of times. I have to say I am very surprised by the harsh reviews by critics and some of the users on here!

The movie is a bit too long at almost 2 hours. I think a couple of the acting scenes were repetitive, but I am glad they did not cut any of the music they had. There is a LOT of music but the actors all pull it off quite well, with some of the songs actually being recognizable as real country songs if you are familiar with the genre.

I must admit I am a huge country music fan and I like all country, not just the newer pop stuff. So take my review knowing that. However, I did take 3 people with me to the advance screening and 2 of them listen to NO country music. All 4 of us thought the movie was great. Three of us cried.

I think the previews are marketing the movie all wrong. It looks like it will be an uplifting film that shows us the bad stuff in the beginning, then maybe a bump or two, then everybody winds up happy and "Country Strong." This is not the case at all.

It is a sad look at addiction but I think more realistic than someone coming out of rehab and everything being sunshine and lollipops. The characters are all flawed, with perhaps Beau being the only one who comes out in a mostly positive light, but even he has his issues and is far from perfect.

It also looks like Gwyneth is the only lead in the previews, but all 4 major characters have quite a large amount of time on screen and I think Beau has the same (or maybe even more) screen time as Gwyneth. I had never heard of this actor (had no clue he has the lead in TRON) and I came home to look him up immediately because I thought surely he was a real up and coming country singer.

Gwyneth's voice is really good, and if Garrett or Leighton ever made a country album, I would buy it. Tim doesn't sing in the movie but has a song on the soundtrack, but that was the way he wanted it and I respect him for that. This was the first movie of Tim's where I did forget at least a couple of times that I was looking at "THE" Tim McGraw. He was fine in Blindside, but it was a small role.

If you have a passionate hatred for country, I do not think you will enjoy the movie because there is a lot of singing in it. However, you do not need to love country as I do to enjoy it. If you can so much as tolerate it or accept the singers as being talented, I think you'll be fine.

I plan to buy the soundtrack, but wish it had more from Garrett and Leighton because they each sang a lot more than 1 song in the movie!

I feel like this movie has potential to be good. The actors are obviously trying but the writer/director just doesn't deliver which completely throws off the intentions of each character. What I mean is, it's bad enough that the music is astonishingly boring, but that no character is given any development makes the movie even worse. Therefore Gwyneth Paltrow comes off as whiny because why she started drinking is never explained, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester appear pretentious because they have no history to explain their on-off minor rivalry, and Tim McGraw appears to just be bossy because there's no push for him to make Gwyneth Paltrow's character a more popular star. I feel no sympathy for the characters because there is no real story behind any of them which makes the long scenes feel even longer. When something thin is being stretched out beyond it's limit, it shows by either becoming looser or ripping apart. This movie doesn't completely rip apart, but it comes terribly close (emphasis on "terrible"). I do not recommend this movie to anyone, especially country music fans.