Country Strong

I really wanted to love this movie... I hoped it would be the Pure Country of our generation. And while I didn't hate it, Country Strong is OK at best.

The movie is released straight to DVD in Australia at the end of this month.

It's been a long wait for Australian country music fans as this movie was released in the US prior to Christmas last year and much of the publicity has flowed our way in recent months. Country Strong is highly unrealistic in some respects, yet very realistic in others.

The biggest problem is that lead characters are highly unlikeable... Tim McGraw's character is just awful and Gwynth Paltrow's character is fundamentally pathetic and would never had made it in the real world. I felt no empathy for her at all.... even at the end.

Also, you don't get support gigs on major tours playing a few tunes at The Stage (particularly really badly!), even if you look really pretty. But this is a movie of course...

Country Strong has some nice moments and the strongest performance comes from Garrett Hedlund, who plays Beau. Leighton Meester is far more impressive as "Bee" in Gossip Girl, but her performance in this certainly has done harm to her career.

Two stars..

P.S. This movie is still better than Beer For My Horses...