Hi, this is Dana Stevens, Slate's movie critic, and I'm here with the Slate Spoiler Special

podcast on Crazy Heart, the new movie starring Jeff Bridges as a down-and-out country singer.

So joining me in the Slate Studios is John Swansberg. Hi, John.

Hey, good to be here.

Who is Slate's culture editor and a fellow appreciator of Crazy Heart, right? Yes, this was a really fun movie to watch. Dana dropped off a DVD screener for me last night, and I didn't put it in until

sort of late in the evening, and I was a little sleepy, and I was so happy when this

movie ended.

It's not a great piece of filmmaking.

It's not a fantastic movie, but it's a movie that leaves you very happy, and it leaves

you humming its music, and I just really, I just thoroughly enjoyed it. I, I, uh, I speak very highly

of it. I'm glad. I wanted to drag somebody in to spoil this with me, because I feel like

this movie hasn't got enough attention for, for how interesting it is, and how great Bridges

performances. I think it's going to get attention come Oscar time, but it would be great to get people actually out in the theaters to see it before that, because I don't know what the promotion strategy has been

or what kind of mistakes were made, but it seems obvious to me that this is Oscar material,

at least just performance, and the movie's really been sort of snuck into even the consciousness

of critics, much less the larger public.

Yeah, I think there's some story about how it's one of those sad Hollywood

stories about, you know, good movies that get somehow lost in the distribution channels because

they just don't have the right rabbi at the, you know, studio or whatever. I can't remember the

details, but people should go out and see this movie if for no other reason than just for the

Jeff Bridges performance, which is really great. I mean, it's a great performance within a slightly less great movie, but the movie itself is fun.

It's not a bad movie.

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