Country Strong

UK Release: 25th March 2011

Watched on DVD: Friday 19th April 2013

Rating: 12A

Genre: Drama, Music

Runtime: 1hr 57mins

IMDb Plot Synopsis: A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester). 

My Review: I expected this to be a cheesy film about country singers with lots of music and while it was, in a way, it also had a lot of heart and was actually a pretty fun watch. What first drew my attention was Gwyneth Paltrow, as she’s the last person I’d think of as a country and western star. She was fantastic on stage and off and she completely had me duped - especially her accent! 

Leighton Meester also seemed like the complete opposite to a country singer, and certainly polar opposites to her role as Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl, who I know and love her from. Yet it was her story that pulled me in the most in the end as her character evolved from shy beauty queen to a complex singer who’d been through a lot. There was surprisingly a lot of tension throughout the film as we piece together how it all went wrong for Paltrow’s character as we first meet her in Rehab. She’s struggling with addiction and death threats, as well as her extremely complicated relationship with her husband/manager. 

So while there may be a whole country music element to it, (which normally wouldn’t be my cup of tea but I actually really loved) it is really all about these characters and the struggles they’re facing. Making it much more interesting than it meets the eye. 

Score: 8/10