I have watched this movie numerous times and I love the characters of Beau and Chiles. Gwyneth Paltrow is just not a great actor. The other two upstage her with their acting and sunging. Gwyneth can't sing and her acting abilities as a country singer is too much Hollywood. I wish they would have gotten someone else for the role Kelly. Tim McGraw is ok nothing special. The chemistry of Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester is wonderful. They truly are country in this movie. Love their songs.

Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a country music star with addiction problems. Her domineering husband manager James Canter (Tim McGraw) pulls her out of treatment early. They don't connect as a couple anymore. Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund) works at the rehab center. He befriends Kelly Canter as her sponsor and singing partner. Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) is a pretty young thing desperate to be a star.I just can't buy Gwyneth Paltrow as a country music star. To me, that's not her persona she's built over the years. She's a hardcore NYer and the southern accent just sound false. That taints the movie for me. The whole role just felt wrong to me and her singing isn't good enough. Tim McGraw needs more acting power. He probably needs more menace or something. Garrett Hedlund is unknown to me but he does a good job. And the story is a functional melodrama about these four damaged souls. It's just watchable enough to barely recommend.

"Country Strong" is about a country singer named Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has been yanked out of rehab early by her husband James (Tim McGraw). Kelly is trying for a comeback after falling off the stage drunk and losing her baby. Kelly wants her sponsor Beau (Garrett Hedlund), who she has been sleeping with, to be her opening act when she goes back on tour. James who is also Kelly's manager wants Chiles (Leighton Meester) to be her opening act. They both end up going on tour with Kelly and they watch her struggle with her addiction. After an amazing performance by Kelly in Dallas, she returns to her room where there is a shocking ending.The message of this movie is fame and love cannot exist together. The message in this movie is conveyed well. Kelly is struggling to get her husband back, but her husband is too wrapped up in being her manager. At the Make a Wish event Kelly and James are dancing and we can see that they are in love, but James realizes that everything Kelly has been through and he knows that she is not going to forgive herself. With that being said, one can see in this case Kelly can only try to get her fame back or winning back her husband's love. In the end Kelly realizes it's going to be hard for her to get both back.I think this movie was overall a great movie. One thing director Shana Feste does well is how she presents being taken out of rehab before one has learned anything from it. James yanked Kelly out of rehab so she could have a comeback singing and when he did that Kelly struggled and viewers got to see her struggle. I thought the way the baby bird represented Kelly was cute. A baby bird is fragile just as Kelly is when she was yanked out of rehab before she was ready to fly on her own. It was weird that James gave the bird to someone else to take care of since that bird kind of represents Kelly. Overall I really enjoyed this movie.

First I want to disclose I'm not a good writer AT ALL, and I've never wrote a review before. I have no idea what I'm going to end up writing so if you've never seen the movie... Don't continue reading, just know the movie is... Amazing. I tried watching the movie three or four times and was never able to watch the entire movie. But watching parts of it three or four times, made me finally take time out of my crazy life to watch the entire movie. I have to say it lifted my heart. Gweneth's performance should have won her many awards! The song she sang, "Coming Home" truly made my heart lift, and gave me goose bumps. I'm not one of those people that is star struck... Movie "Stars" are just regular people, who go to work everyday like you and I. I've never really been a fan of anyone... But after watching this movie I must say I am a fan of Gweneth's. She showed that she can act any script that is given to her. Truly a great movie start to finish. I wish I was a better writer to convince you more. Just go watch it... You'll love it!