Country Strong Poster: Maybe Tim McGraw Will Save This Movie?

I'm still a little baffled by the existence of the movie Country Song, which seems to be playing right into the same pocket as last year's Crazy Heart, except the alcoholic country singer in question isn't the inimitably, effortlessly authentic Jeff Bridges, but Gwyneth Paltrow, known for faking a British accent from time to time and espousing the virtues of crazy detox diets. She's not exactly what you would think of as a "down home gal," and even in the film's first trailer, she wasn't really pulling off the Southern accent or charm.

Honestly, the thing about all of this that intrigues me most is Tim McGraw, who is building up a track record of being a surprisingly good actor following his supporting turn in The Blind Side; in the forthcoming Weinstein Company movie Dirty Girl, which I saw and loathed at Toronto, he's the only recognizable human. So with McGraw prominently displayed next to Paltrow in the film's new poster (via IMP Awards), I'm holding out hope that he might be able to bolster the film with his natural grace and actual familiarity with the country music industry. Yes, I'm pinning all my hopes in a possible awards contender on Tim McGraw. It's a weird day, OK?

Check out the poster below, also featuring Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund. It's not really that great a poster-- everyone seems so blatantly Photoshopped in together-- but somehow that doesn't surprise me at this point. Country Strong opens in limited release in December.