‘Country Strong’ Trailer Featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester Will Have You Sputtering “Y’all” All Day

A trailer for the country music drama “Country Strong” has been released, and the only surprising part of the whole thing is how much more country you thought it would be. Gwyneth Paltrow shows off an accent almost as obnoxious and exaggerated as Kyra Sedgwick’s accent in “The Closer,” if you can believe it. There was quite a bit of ambiguity surrounding the film based on the few photos that have been released, but we hope you didn’t get your hopes up. The trailer is the story you’ve heard in almost every country song. It involves women, love and booze.
Paltrow stars as a run-down country music artist who tries to get back into the biz after experiencing a short stint in rehab for drunk and disorderly conduct. She’s joined by Tim McGraw who plays Paltrow’s love interest. Garrett Hedlund (“Tron”) and Leighton Meester (CW’s “Gossip Girl”) also join the cast as two country music artists.

There’s one point in the trailer where Leighton Meester’s character says Jesus Christ is one-half of her idol to which Garrett Hedlund sarcastically responds “…Jesus Christ. Who’d have thought?” This appears to be the only moment where the film actually understands the ridiculous characters involved in the industry. The rest of the trailer pretty much confirms every stereotype you can think of surrounding country music stars: the booze, the terrible accents, and the dancing. At the end of the trailer Paltrow does a little hokey-pokey dance that’s oddly similar to Ashlee Simpson’s stint on “Saturday Night Live.” That can’t be good.
Why Paltrow signed on to this flick is beyond us, but you can see it for yourself in theaters on January 7, 2011 (tell-tale January dumping ground release date). And, if you were wondering, the title of the movie is also the theme song of the film – how clever! Check out the trailer for yourself and tell us what you think.