Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Shana Feste
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Garrett Hedlund, Carter Faith, Ross Lynch, Paul Sparks, Jennifer Nettles, John Hawkes
Jessica Chastain sure looks the part of a rhinestone cowgirl in Nashville-set thriller Heartland, making a compelling case for the release of double denim from fashion jail. She even gets to belt out a few tunes, delivering on the vocal promise of her performance as Tammy Wynette in the 2022 mini-series George & Tammy. Chastain can certainly carry a Country song, but carrying this generic thriller proves a big ask.
Chastain plays Misty Jones, a once beloved Country star who burnt too many bridges, the public deciding to take the side of her husband Clark (John Hawkes) and her rival Winnie Jo Lean (Jennifer Nettles) in their very public feuds. For the past two decades Misty has been living in solitude with her dogs on a remote Georgian farm. Her exile is interrupted when her niece, rising star Charlie Heart (played by Country singer Carter Faith, though oddly she doesn't get any vocal numbers of her own here), disappears from Nashville where she is being groomed for stardom by her manager Roy Combs (Garrett Hedlund). Misty heads back to Country's Mecca to ruffle some rhinestones and find answers.
Heartland is initially amusing as Misty reintegrates herself into the town she walked out on all those years ago. Like Axel Foley in Beverly Hills, she's in Nashville to cause trouble yet can't help but be drawn in by its bright lights. Amid her investigation, Misty finds herself being invited onto various stages, and is all too willing to grab a mic and upstage some newcomer or rival veteran.
After some early promise, Chastain has sadly become known for being the best thing in a lot of bad movies. That's once again the case here. She's really all writer/director Shana Feste's movie has going for it, commanding us to stay awake with her boisterous performance while her character navigates a tired narrative about uncovering corruption in a specific industry, in this case the cut throat world of commercial Country music.
The film does raise the interesting idea of a mystery in which the protagonist has several secrets of their own. But those secrets are revealed far too early, and the identity of the main villain couldn't be more obvious if they were wearing a black hat and covering half their face with a cloak. A town as distinctive as Nashville should make for a great backdrop for a thriller, but Feste never leans into the over the top nature of her setting. Detective style movies are usually enlivened by the various eccentric supporting characters the protagonist encounters, but despite taking place in a city known for drawing larger than life personalities like moths to a flame, Heartland is populated by a cast of dullards, as though Feste doesn't want to upstage her heroine. Chastain is a worthy headliner here, but the uninspiring supporting bill will struggle to get you tapping your feet.
Heartland is on Netflix from November 13th.
