First off, I'll freely admit this one's a bit of a cheat, since A Little Bit Stronger debuted as a single in September 2010, a few months before Country Strong's release, but it was still released again at a later date as a single from the movie, so I'll count it for this column. Plus, it gives me a chance to talk about one of the "sleeper" bad movies of recent years, which really deserves a more prominent reputation for it's awfulness: Country Strong.
Gwyneth Paltrow is country music sensation Kelly Canter, whose alcoholism is making life for the celebrity quite difficult. Her husband, James Canter, tries to cheer up in a myriad of ways, namely in keeping a quail she took a shine to in a box in his pocket (you can't make this stuff up). As Kelly goes through her various struggles, it becomes pretty clear that A Little Bit Stronger is meant to be a mirror of her overcoming daily hardships.
The only problem is that the Sara Evans sung tune is actually pretty smart in its depiction of conquering adversity. Just by the songs title, one can know the lyrical contents of the song don't deal with vanquishing any and all conflict one discovers in life, but rather making it through the more difficult areas life has to offer and coming out of them a bit wiser. That's not gonna line up with Country Strongs way of depicting grief, which is dealt in a subtle manner that makes The Blind Side look a nuanced critique of modern day racial attitudes.
It's a true shame that the movie itself can't become something notable since A Little Bit Stronger is pretty much taking the stories primary themes and delivering them in the kind of understated execution Country Strong could only dream of. The vocals of Sara Evans are a notable reason for why the entity comes across so successful, as she adds a real sense of simultaneous weariness and courage each passage of the song.
These are the sort of emotions that just don't enter a single frame of Country Strong, no matter how many corny sequences of emotional manipulation (which ran the gamut of every single cliche you can imagine) it tries to concoct. It certainly doesn't help the movie that a much better look at facing daily anguish can be found on its own soundtrack, and that one doesn't require you to watch the languid chemistry between Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Gwyneth Paltrow is country music sensation Kelly Canter, whose alcoholism is making life for the celebrity quite difficult. Her husband, James Canter, tries to cheer up in a myriad of ways, namely in keeping a quail she took a shine to in a box in his pocket (you can't make this stuff up). As Kelly goes through her various struggles, it becomes pretty clear that A Little Bit Stronger is meant to be a mirror of her overcoming daily hardships.
The only problem is that the Sara Evans sung tune is actually pretty smart in its depiction of conquering adversity. Just by the songs title, one can know the lyrical contents of the song don't deal with vanquishing any and all conflict one discovers in life, but rather making it through the more difficult areas life has to offer and coming out of them a bit wiser. That's not gonna line up with Country Strongs way of depicting grief, which is dealt in a subtle manner that makes The Blind Side look a nuanced critique of modern day racial attitudes.
It's a true shame that the movie itself can't become something notable since A Little Bit Stronger is pretty much taking the stories primary themes and delivering them in the kind of understated execution Country Strong could only dream of. The vocals of Sara Evans are a notable reason for why the entity comes across so successful, as she adds a real sense of simultaneous weariness and courage each passage of the song.
These are the sort of emotions that just don't enter a single frame of Country Strong, no matter how many corny sequences of emotional manipulation (which ran the gamut of every single cliche you can imagine) it tries to concoct. It certainly doesn't help the movie that a much better look at facing daily anguish can be found on its own soundtrack, and that one doesn't require you to watch the languid chemistry between Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow.
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