Pam: I find it hard to believe that anyone ever really changes - especially a washed up alcoholic singer/songwriter who decides one day that he's ready to become sober to win back a woman he loves. There's no one who can cause that kind of change within another person, and it's certainly not believable in this movie. That being said, the movie is pretty good. The beginning is difficult to watch as Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) ruins his performances and life with hard drinking. His agent has a hard time booking him anywhere, so he ends up playing in a bowling alley and other various honky-tonks along the way. He gets a call one day that reveals something deeper about this character: we find out that his one-time protege is now a major star and Bad's agent wants Bad to open for him. What a dilemma he faces. ("A Star is Born" anyone??) On top of that, he's falling for a much younger girl who has been doing some interviews with him. A series of events illustrate for us the downward spiral of Bad's life until he's left with nothing - AA calls this "hitting bottom." It's nice to see Bad at the end where some things work out for him and some don't. The movie has some cliches, but the jewel is Bridges' performance. He makes the cliches believable. 4 stars out of 5
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