Misty Jones keeps her Grammy in the fridge, next to food that went off long ago. Once the hottest and most feared woman in country music, she now hides away on a farm in Georgia, drinking, smoking and picking fights with the neighbours. Then her brother calls. His daughter, a rising Nashville star, has vanished, and the only person he trusts to find her is the sister who walked away from Music City twenty years ago.
Heartland, written and directed by Shana Feste, the film-maker behind Country Strong, has landed on Netflix in the UK with Jessica Chastain in a Stetson and in full voice. It is a missing-person mystery, a backstage melodrama and, now and then, a musical. Chastain gives it everything she has. The mystery, sadly, gives her rather less back.
Jessica Chastain plays it loud, proud and heartbroken. The thriller around her never finds the same key.
Movie at a Glance
- UK availability: Streaming on Netflix from Friday 13 November 2026
- Writer and director: Shana Feste
- Starring: Jessica Chastain, Garrett Hedlund, Carter Faith, Ross Lynch, John Hawkes, Paul Sparks and Jennifer Nettles
- Production: Chernin Entertainment for Netflix
- Runtime: 111 minutes
- Netflix UK age rating: 15
- Genre: Mystery thriller with music
Viewer Match
- Best for: Jessica Chastain fans, country music lovers and anyone who enjoyed the TV drama Nashville or Feste’s Country Strong.
- Maybe skip if: You want a twisty, tightly plotted thriller that keeps you guessing.
- Mood and pace: Moody, neon-lit and melodramatic, with live music breaks; it moves briskly but runs out of road in the final act.
- Cinema or streaming? A Friday-night Netflix watch with a drink in hand.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: we stop at Charlie’s disappearance.
The Queen of Mean Goes Home
Chastain is the reason to watch. Misty is foul-mouthed, quick to reach for a shotgun and quicker to reach for a bottle, and Chastain clearly relishes playing someone so far from polite. She goes big, sometimes very big, which suits the film’s rhinestone streak. But she also finds quieter moments of real hurt in a woman who was chewed up by an industry that still treats young female talent as a product. Those flashes of pain are the most interesting thing in the film, and it is a shame the script does not explore them further.
She also sings, and convincingly. Misty keeps being dragged on stage despite herself, and the performances, a mix of original songs and covers played in real Nashville venues, give the film its best energy. A duet with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, as an old friend turned rival, is the highlight: warm, funny and alive in a way the investigation rarely is.
A Music City Mystery With Few Surprises
The search for Charlie, played by country singer Carter Faith in her first film role, takes Misty through a gallery of suspects: a slick manager (Garrett Hedlund), a cocky singer boyfriend (Ross Lynch), a publicity team and a creepy obsessive fan. The cast is strong, and John Hawkes and Norbert Leo Butz bring flickers of oddness to small parts. But most of these characters are drawn so broadly that you can sort the villains from the friends the moment they appear.
That is the film’s central problem. A mystery needs doubt, and Heartland rarely creates any. The key turn arrives early and can be seen coming a long way off, and from there the story heads down a generic path towards a hurried, overwrought final act. Meanwhile, the relationship that should anchor the film, between Misty and her brother Donny (Paul Sparks), is mostly limited to tense phone calls and never properly explored.
Neon, Dive Bars and Stetsons
Feste does give Nashville a real sense of place. Khalid Mohtaseb’s photography soaks the honky-tonks in neon and shadow, the Bluebird Cafe makes an appearance, and the scenes of whiskey and live music in late-night bars have more flavour than most straight-to-streaming thrillers manage. The film looks good and sounds good. It just does not grip.
There is a certain pleasure in how sincerely it commits to its own corniness, and for some viewers that guilty-pleasure, soap-opera mood will be enough. Everyone else may find themselves enjoying the songs and drifting during the clues.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Heartland has a terrific idea, a committed and enjoyably brash Jessica Chastain, some strong songs and a vivid Nashville backdrop. As a thriller, though, it is thin and predictable, with obvious villains and a weak final act. Worth a stream for Chastain and the music, not for the mystery.
- Performances: 7/10
- Direction: 5.5/10
- Screenplay: 4/10
- Score: 6.5/10
- Cinematography: 6.5/10
- Entertainment Value: 5.5/10
- Overall score: 5.5/10
Star rating: 3/5
Verdict badge: Stream It
One-line verdict: Chastain hits every note; shame the mystery is singing from a very old hymn sheet.
Watch the Official Trailer
Follow Misty back to Nashville in the official Netflix trailer.
For more of the week’s new arrivals, see our Weekly Streaming Highlights and the Weekly Cinema Pack, and check What to Watch Tonight for the rest of this evening’s TV and streaming.
Which singer, past or present, would you cast as the Nashville legend coming out of retirement to solve a mystery? Share your spoiler-free reaction to Heartland.