Plenty of Passes Left for Tonight's Crazy Heart Screening

Sig's Lagoon (3710 Main) has plenty of passes left for this evening's preview screening of Crazy Heart, the Golden Globe-nominated film starring Jeff Bridges as a hard-luck country singer who finds... wait for it... One Last Shot At Redemption when he meets kind-hearted journalist Maggie Gyllenhaal. (Rocks Off likes Maggie Gyllenhaal.)

Written and directed by first-timer Scott Cooper and based on the novel by Thomas Cobb, Crazy Heart also co-stars Robert Duvall, who played a role very similar to Bridges' in 1983's Tender Mercies. The plot - veteran star usurped by his former protege (played here by Colin Ferrell) - also sounds a little like 1992's George Strait vehicle Pure Country.

Nevertheless, Rocks Off would wager Crazy Heart is worth seeing for the music alone. The songs and score were written by T-Bone Burnett, owner of two Album of the Year Grammys for producing Robert Plant & Allison Krauss' Raising Sand and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and Burnett's old friend and fellow Fort Worth native Stephen Bruton, who passed away last year in Los Angeles while working on the film (and who wrote this song, which Rocks Off has always loved).

Crazy Heart seems well on its way to netting Burnett some more awards. The movie's theme song, "The Weary Kind," written by Burnett and Austin-based alt-country singer Ryan Bingham and performed by Bingham, is a Golden Globe nominee for Best Original Song. Bridges is also up for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) and is said to be a leading contender for a Best Actor Oscar nod when the Academy Award nominations are announced next month. The Golden Globes air this Sunday on NBC.

Tonight's screening is 7:30 p.m. at the AMC Studio 30 at Westheimer and Dunvale. Come early - passes (good for you and a guest) do not guarantee admission. If you'd prefer to wait a bit, Crazy Heart opens in regular release Friday at the Landmark River Oaks Theater.