Soon after a rising young singer-songwriter sparks with a fallen star, the pair embarks on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager and featuring a beauty-queen-turned-singer. Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.
Shana Feste's screenplay seldom rises above the level of daytime TV; the only actor who triumphs over her trite dialogue is Tim McGraw in a nonsinging role as Paltrow's husband and manager.
Some may cynically scoff at Country Strong's rollercoaster of feelings, yet it's almost completely appropriate considering the high drama present in the lyrics of country music.
Paltrow gives it her best but is so conspicuously doing country. We're meant to believe she has spent half her life staring into a vodka bottle, but she glows like she's just stepped out of a yoga retreat.
