Country Strong Reviews
September 5, 2020
Unfortunately, Feste's unsteady directorial hand loses control of the film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4.0
November 16, 2019
Country Strong is like a dramatic washing machine - the laundry load hasn't had sufficient pre-soak and whites are mixed with colors, resulting in a bleeding into monotone bland.
May 8, 2019
Somewhere deep inside this Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle there is a quality movie with some challenging subject matter. But that promise was glossed over by a film that tries too hard to be nice and not offend its target audience.
August 15, 2018
The story is too clunky and overstuffed, and its flaws are even more glaring when spotlighted against stellar country music dramas.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
January 23, 2013
A little like modern country music - odd moments of sincerity, heart and authenticity peek through the plastic, the hype and the manufactured hokum.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
September 9, 2011
This canned corn falls far short of the inspiring story of triumph and tragedy it wants viewers to buy.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
August 12, 2011
Not exactly brimming with the essence of country music
April 15, 2011
...Country Strong's downfall stems from its almost egregiously deliberate pace...
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
April 4, 2011
It's got enough melodrama and full-volume diva-meltdown histrionics to blow a movie like Burlesque out of the water.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
March 29, 2011
If McGraw had been armed with a microphone, perhaps the movie could have gained something in symmetry; if Kelly had a grounding in social history, perhaps she could better be believed.
March 28, 2011
The movie has its moments, but the characters are fuzzy around the edges...
March 25, 2011
Paltrow is a poster girl for the virtues of yoga and a macrobiotic diet - which makes her far too healthy-looking to play the troubled, booze-sodden singer at the heart of [this] sudsy romantic melodrama.
March 25, 2011
No saving grace here.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
March 25, 2011
The good news is that Paltrow can sing; the bad news is the mawkish and one-paced drama she's playing in.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
March 24, 2011
This is a cheesy soap opera that dearly wants to be a country and western All About Eve. The songs aren't too bad; the dialogue is.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
March 24, 2011
For me it's a no.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
March 24, 2011
I hated, loved, hated the movie. In that order.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
March 24, 2011
Even a Paltrow fan (I remain one) would have to concede that her willowy frame and perfect skin do not betray a lifetime of vodka-swilling and throwing up in hillbilly bars.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
March 24, 2011
As predictable and soulless as an over-produced country power ballad.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
March 24, 2011
Writer/director Shana Feste is clearly indebted to the Oscar-winning Crazy Heart and Robert Altman's epic Nashville, but the script all too often stumbles into mediocre soap-opera territory.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5