A tender and charming piece of work is Crazy Heart, relaxing frequently in the beauty and romance of its music and glorious middle-American setting. It's the Oscar winning lead performance by Jeff Bridges that will truly keep you going through this - I'm not sure there's a scene in this without him and he holds the screen as Bad Blake with a real charm and magnetism that befits the award he won, replete with a thick Texan drawl so authentic you may not understand every word he says, but you'll still understand what he means.

Adapter and director Scott Cooper is in no mood to rush this character story of a broken man finding a way to fix his life, nor either any attempt at histrionics - you'll find no explosive moments of violence or shouting here, only Bad's quiet descent into his own abyss, yet it's no less appealing. Solid support comes too from Maggie Gyllenhall, making a quiet role her own; Robert Duvall in an ebullient extended cameo and the uncredited Colin Farrell, convincing as a celebrated country & western star, again proving his flexibility - but the centre is Bridges, without which this wouldn't hold nearly as well as it does.

One might suggest it rushes for the finish line a tad, while at times the script around Bad & Bridges could have flourished more, but it's a film you'll quite easily fall a little for as women here do Bad's country drawl - sumptuous looking, seductive on the ears and touching without drawing on saccharine.