Shana Feste made the lovely The Greatest, so that gives me a little bit of hope that this won’t be as clichéd as it looks. I cannot help but laugh at the title, though: it makes me think of WristStrong, Stephen Colbert’s parody charity movement against wrist violence… and what we know about the film so far seems to imply that being country strong means taking strength from jealousy and substance abuse.
On the plus side, this is the film in which you get to see Gwyneth Paltrow gone to seed. What, you mean you couldn’t tell from the trailer that Paltrow packed on 20 disgusting pounds for this role? You’re not looking hard enough. Use a magnifying glass, and learn how to be more conscious of other people’s weight, for Christ’s sake.
Country Strong opens the U.S. and Canada on December 22, and in the U.K. on March 4, 2011.
