It didn't take long to find a bad movie in 2011. Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw star in “Country Strong,” and, well, it isn't so strong.
It's the Lindsay Lohan story, and for good measure, we'll throw in a guitar and some vocal talent. It might as well be, but it's actually the Kelly Canter story, just out of rehab, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Country Strong? More like country wrong. It's been so long since I've seen a bad movie that I was starting to get a complex. Thank goodness for this film.
The country superstar has a sponsor in rehab named Bo, who happens to be a singer-songwriter, known only by the patrons in local bars in which he and his band play. He's played by Garrett Hedlund and actually has a decent voice.
Bo is actually more than just a sponsor or a friend to Kelly, if you know what I mean. Why doesn't he just go and buy her tickets to this movie, too?
Later, he has another, similar relationship-- except for the sponsor and friend part.
She's Chiles Stanton, new talent trying to break into the business, but she freezes every time she hits the stage. She's played by Leighton Meester, who, like Paltrow and Hedlund, does her own singing. To my ears, she has the strongest country-singing voice of the lot. And the only true good parts to the film are the songs, by the actors, and actual hits by original artists. But you only get portions, never a complete song. The only one that doesn't sing is real country star McGraw, who plays manager for his wife Kelly, and Chiles.
The film’s hot-buttons are alcohol and Dallas, where her career was derailed after tripping on stage and having a miscarriage.
She returns to fight her demons.
In this movie, the singing is the only positive. The story is unimaginative and jumbled, and the over-the-top and sophomoric acting brings numerous moments of awkwardness that make you cringe.
This movie is far from strong in the county and it's not doing too well in the city either. They say if you play a country record backwards, you get your wife, truck and dog back, but not your movie ticket money.
