Problems With Maggie's Character
Warning: Plot Spoilers be Near...
I don't blame the actress, because she's been good before and has real talent. I think the weakness in her performance starts with the screenplay. There is just too much plot contrivance placed on her role to be even close to believable.
During the course of the movie, she is all of these things: 1. An journalist who interviews Bad Blake, allowing him get some background exposition out of the way, 2. A fawning young groupie-type who sleeps with him out of awe, 3. A mother of a child whom Bad Blake will look at and see reflections of himself and his lost relationship with his own son, 4. The reason he gives up decades of drinking and gets into rehab, 5. The Big Mistake and Lost Love in his life who he looks at with a mixture of love and regret.
It is just beyond stupid to place all this plot machinery into one single character! A more skilled screenplay would have placed some of the heavy lifting in the hands of other minor characters, and as a result created a more streamlined, believable character for Gyllenhaal.
That being said, I liked almost everything else about the movie! What do y'all think?