From the first minute we see hard-drinkin’ country singer Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), it’s clear that the movie is going to go one of two ways; he’s going to find some small sliver of redemption, or he’s going to be dead before the credits. In a wonderfully detailed performance (watch for little touches like the way Bad unbuckles his pants whenever he drives his pickup across the vast western states to his next gig), Bridges conveys the highs and lows of a man who can sing “I used to be somebody; now I’m somebody else.” Bridges slows and slurs his delivery of lines so we’re never quite sure when Bad is drunk and when he’s just too tired to enunciate. If you’ve ever known a career drinker, you’ll recognise that slur.

Bad’s hope of redemption comes a little too obviously when he’s interviewed by single-mother journalist Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Though he’s way too old for her, she falls for Bad. He takes a stab at being a father figure to her son Buddy (Jack Nation), which leads Bad to try to reconnect with his own son. It’s that kind of movie; the plot is too predictable. But the movie works on the sheer force of Bridges’s performance; you can honestly believe that the sad country songs are coming straight from his soul.

Hank Sartin

From Time Out Chicago

Dir Scott Cooper, Category IIB, 112 mins, opens Thursday 4