Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw in the movie Country Strong

"Country Strong" writer-director Shana Feste has said that country music has "nothing small or subtle" in its bones.

So, right off I question her opinion and suggest that she revisit "Crazy Heart" some time, or "Tender Mercies."

 

She's true to her word, though. The first five minutes of "Country Strong" go for nothing small or subtle. (Neither does "Black Swan," a far juicier backstage melodrama, which may as well carry the title "Urban Crazy.")

Six-time Grammy Award-winning country superstar Kelly Canter, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, has checked into rehab for alcohol and pill problems after a disastrous flameout in Dallas that caused her miscarriage. Her hard-driving husband and manager (singer and actor Tim McGraw, lately of "The Blind Side" ) walks in on what looks like a rehab-love-nest situation between his wife and rehab staffer Beau, played by Garrett Hedlund in full, entertaining Kris Kristofferson growl.

Beau's an aspiring singer-songwriter himself, as well as Kelly's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and a little something more.

The triangle bluntly established, "Country Strong" proceeds to take Kelly back on the road for a comeback tour, with opening acts and romantic complications provided by Beau and by a beauty pageant warbler with stage fright and a few secrets, played by Leighton Meester.

This is Paltrow's first leading role in several years, and it offers the Oscar-winning actress a lot: heartache, discreet trysts with good men and bad, drunken misbehavior and heart-of-gold moments where we see the human being beneath all the tabloid noise. To address your questions: Yes, Paltrow can sing. And yes, she's more than able to pull off a portrayal of an unstable Nashville icon at war with her demons.

But, my God, is this script predictable. Each relapse and betrayal shows up announced, and then announced again, a little louder, by the dialogue equivalent of an aggravating doorman. When, for example, Kelly arrives at the recording studio only to find that the interloping up-and-comer played by Meester has stolen her song, the scene carries almost no impact. I realize what Feste is suggesting about the notion of subtlety in this universe. But plenty of terrific songwriters have found ways to invest real subtlety, real human feeling -- the telling, off-handed detail tucked inside the heart-on-sleeve sentiment -- in their work to see familiar country-and-western mythologies reduced to corn syrup this way. The movie's well acted. Almost everything else about "Country Strong" is weak. "You belong on stage, singing in front of thousands of people," McGraw tells Paltrow early on. We hear it, but despite Paltrow's sincere and often touching efforts, we never fully buy what happens offstage, before and after the singing.

 

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements involving alcohol abuse and some sexual content).

Running time: 1:51.

Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow (Kelly Canter); Tim McGraw (James Canter); Garrett Hedlund (Beau Hutton); Leighton Meester (Chiles Stanton).

Credits: Written and directed by Shana Feste; produced by Tobey Maguire and Jenno Topping. A Screen Gems release.

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Country Strong Movie Review - Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw