Interesting comparison to Kristen Stewart, though I saw KS in Adventureland and thought she did a good job there.
I liked LM's character, Chiles Stanton, in Country Strong because despite evident adversity, like in the Sara Evans song that she sang during one of the concerts in the movie, she "put a smile on" and went on. I find a lot of strength in that.
I also frankly liked that there was a lot _suggested_ but _left unsaid_ in the script. It's a lot like life. You don't necessarily know everything about everyone.
Chiles came from a past that was at least partly evident if you read between the lines. But the viewer has to be attuned to the need to do that. Today's scripts often give the audience a "God's view" of the characters and so the audience becomes lazy expecting that everything that one needs to know about the characters will be presented in often graphic detail. Again, life isn't like that.
In this movie, the only one who could find / read into the missing pages in Chiles' past, was, in fact, Kelly and not by "hiring a private eye" but through life experience and connecting the dots. This becomes clear in the scene where Kelly talks to Chiles to give her advice near the end of the movie, there is something of a surprise there, but the audience is invited then to look back and to realize that it was there from the beginning. Without a doubt, LM's character was the "strong one." Kelly, in fact, advises her to become softer (not to make LM's Chiles less of a competitor but to make Chiles a happier person and make her life correspond more closely to the, yes, beautiful smile that she was always carrying).
Anyway, I get the sense that we probably look for different things in a movie. I thought that LM played the "smiling" Chiles Stanton remarkably well and with remarkable depth. The smile was always there, but if one paused to look further there was more there than just the smile.
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ekl59
14 years ago
In this movie, the only one who could find / read into the missing pages in Chiles' past, was, in fact, Kelly and not by "hiring a private eye" but through life experience and connecting the dots. This becomes clear in the scene where Kelly talks to Chiles to give her advice near the end of the movie, there is something of a surprise there, but the audience is invited then to look back and to realize that it was there from the beginning. Without a doubt, LM's character was the "strong one." Kelly, in fact, advises her to become softer (not to make LM's Chiles less of a competitor but to make Chiles a happier person and make her life correspond more closely to the, yes, beautiful smile that she was always carrying).
Excellent analysis and very well said! I also think that Leighton Meester did a wonderful job in this movie. She gave what could have easily been a shallow, one dimensional, hated character some depth, and I found her very likable. Not to mention her singing which was very good as well.
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denniskriz
14 years ago
I would give credit here to the script as well (and perhaps to the whole genre of Country Music).
One of the things that confuses a lot of people about this movie is that its two younger stars (LM but also Garrett Hedlund) play the movie's most likable and even most important characters.
I don't think that's an accident. Historically, the world of Country Music has _very kind_ to new talent and the script reflects this very well.
Consider simply that the same acts that were at the top of the charts in Rock and Roll _decades ago_ remain the biggest acts in that genre of music today (The Rolling Stones, Springsteen, U2 ...).
In the same space of time, Country music has produced something like four of five generations of new talent -- Johnny Cash/Lorreta Lynn, Glenn Campbell/John Denver/Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks/Reba/Tim McGraw/Faith Hill and currently Brad Paisley/Carrie Underwood/Taylor Swift (I'm just listing off the top of my head...)
Anyway, the same ethos seemed to have applied to the movie script here (set in the world of Country Music) -- The young actors, LM and GH were clearly given the best/most likable parts (and the older actors did not seem to mind).
That both the young actors took their parts and ran with them, is great as well. Serious youth friendly scripts are often hard to find...
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