Country music: most people either love it or hate it. The film Country Strong is definitely the same way … except most people will probably hate it. The music is decent, by country standards, and the acting is fine, but the rest of the movie feels like a second-rate Lifetime movie. And let us keep in mind that a first-rate Lifetime movie is roughly equivalent to a high school class film without the energy.
Country Strong is a film about Kelly Canter (Gwenyth Paltrow) recovering from her well-publicized stint in rehab for her rampant alcoholism. She had lost her unborn child due to an alcohol-related accident and checked into rehab. James (Tim McGraw) checks Kelly, his wife, out of rehab early and convinces her to go on a comeback tour in order to restore her recently dirtied image. Kelly agrees on the condition that Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund) performs her opening act, but her husband is set on having the beauty queen Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) sing the opening act. On the night of Chiles’s first performance, however, she freezes up from stage fright. Beau saves her from embarrassment by beginning to sing on stage with her. James decides to let the two go on tour as a duet opening act. Despite disliking Chiles, Beau agrees to go on tour.
Sounds dramatic right? Any movie that involves a celebrity fallen from grace should be. But Country Strong far surpasses any soap opera in dramatic plot twists. The four main characters explore what seems like, and very may well be, every heterosexual relationship possible amongst themselves. Drunkenness and sex are, naturally, around every corner. The movie almost puts Days of our Lives to shame!
Be cautious, though. Drama does not necessarily make a good movie, and in this case, it most definitely does not. The plot is awfully predictable and there are few truly moving scenes. In fact, the only part of the film I actually felt emotionally moved by was when Kelly sings to a young boy suffering from cancer. The writing is trite, and the characters are absolutely flat. Even great actors such as Gwenyth Paltrow and Tim McGraw cannot breathe a shred of life into the movie.
What’s even more disturbing than the film’s lack of compelling dialogue and depth is its one in a million perchance happenings. Parts of the movie are not even believable! What sane person would leave a superstar, with a history of getting drunk before going on stage, alone in her dressing room? Who flitters between drunkenness and lucidity without any sort of transition? Isn’t it rather lucky that an exceedingly talented singer just happens to work at the same rehab facility where a superstar is recovering? These grating aspects of the story are like a pebble in your shoe. While you can get past the discomfort, it does detract from the overall cinematic experience.
Only go to Country Song if you are a huge, unwavering fan of country music. The music in the film will please anyone who is a fan of the genre, but the other aspects of the movie should be universally off-putting. I would not recommend the movie to anyone else. I give it 1.5 stars out of 5.