What was the husband's problem?

You would have to live or be married to someone with an active addiction to understand his perspective.

i think i heard one of the reporters say, before she went to rehab she was 5 months pregnant and fell off the stage drunk, i assume she lost the baby, i have a feeling he is still grieving and blames her

This isn't meant to sound snarky. I'm just wondering if you missed the first part of the movie.

The story establishes that Kelly was 5 months pregnant when she fell 10 feet off a stage during a performance and it turned out she was heavily intoxicated at the time. She lost the baby and though her husband James forgave her he was still having a hard time both getting over that heartache and letting her back into his heart completely. Add to that the fact that she was still drinking throughout the movie and obviously having an affair with another man right in front of him and it's not so hard to understand his conflicted feelings for her. In fact, one might ask why he stuck by her for so long.

He was not without blame himself though. He genuinely believed that they had to take the tour opportunity to save her career, which is why he pulled her out of rehab early. But he just couldn't let himself see how truly messed up she was. It was never in her best interest to leave rehab and she was not up to the challenges or responsibilities of that tour. I think, based on the things he said, that he really did believe she needed her career to feel complete and maybe that was true at one time. But her actions to me were a clear cry for help and an indication that that life was not what she wanted or needed anymore, as much as she loved those few glorious moments on stage doing what she did so well. Did he hate her? No I think he loved her more than he wanted to. I think he resented her too for what she had become and for taking the person he loved away from him (the person she used to be). I don't think he was just furthering his own ends, though I wondered at first where his interests genuinely lay as well.

By the time of the 'Travis' scene, what I couldn't help thinking as I watched him approach her, dance with her and then walk out into the hallway with that sad look on his face was "What must it feel like to see glimpses of the person she used to be?" To see moments where she was that person he loved again, but fleeting ones. And to know they're fleeting and could be replaced at any moment by the other, broken version that keeps chasing that original person away. And I found myself saying out loud to him "You can't wish someone sober. You can't wish her better." And anyone who has loved someone with addictions (parent, child, lover, friend) knows that this is true. No matter how hard you try, you can't fix someone who chooses their addiction over you. Over their own self even. They have to be able to do it for themselves.


I think his motivation was love. Mixed with a bit of desperation and misguided hope.



What I really liked about this movie is that at the beginning I had a hard time caring about any of the characters. They all had flaws or issues that I was only too eager to judge them for. And they all seemed selfish in one way or another. But throughout the course of the movie, as the story unfolded and each character's depth and motivations were revealed, I realized I cared about all of them and sympathized with their plights. Because they were all good people just doing the best they could with what they had. We don't know how Kelly went from fresh faced talent with a loving husband and all the odds in her favor to the person she'd become by the time we 'met' her. And we don't need to in order to care about her. Somewhere along the line she lost her way and that's reason enough to care. Somewhere along the line James lost a bit of his own self esteem and pride by catering to her moods and her career. Even as he lost her to her addiction. Beau genuinely cared for her and realized finally that their relationship wasn't healthy for her all along or what she really needed. And he really did have her best interest at heart. He genuinely cared about Chiles too and I was glad to see didn't treat her badly while he figured out his feelings for Kelly. Likewise Chiles really was essentially what she seemed - a nice kid with just enough talent and ambition to be a contender without the blood lust to step over other people to get there. And that's always a refreshing change of pace to see. I'm glad I stuck with it and stayed to see how it all resolved and can't help feeling sad for all of them, especially Kelly and James, even though I realize they're just fictional characters. This is a movie that crept into my heart while I wasn't even looking.

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