A Star is Born review
-
A Star is Born
Warner Brothers
R. 137 min
I guess you could call it a tradition? Looks like there’s been a remake of this story every 40 years. I’m surprised it hasn’t come around more often. It’s a hell of a tale and a great vehicle for a couple of A list stars no matter what generation they are from.
Janet Gaynor and Frederick March carried the ball in 1937 and in 1976 it was Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Today Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga recreate the classic.
Bradley Cooper directs as well as starring as Jack Maine, a southern rock icon with a serious substance abuse problem. He's still pretty popular but thanks to the effects of the drugs, alcohol and hearing loss he’s definitely on the downside of his career. One night after a concert he’s searching for an open bar and instruct his chauffeur to pull over at a place sporting some bright lights, that turns out to be a drag bar. If you’re not familiar a drag bar is not necessarily a gay bar but it does feature performers dressed as women. For some reason one of the performers is an actual female, Ally, (Lady Gaga) who captures Jack's fancy with her stylistic performance. She also has a crappy regular job but her dream is to be a singer songwriter despite her self-deprecating personality. She fears no one would want to listen to her sing her own songs because she’s not attractive enough. Jack strongly disagrees on both counts and sets out to win her heart. As the courtship progresses he convinces her to join him on stage to sing one of her own songs with him and the crowd goes wild. She will continue to adorn his shows perfectly content to be a small part of the big picture but more and more audiences that especially promoters are taking note of her star power. Her star is on the rise while his spirals out of control which spells disaster for their lives. Psychology tells us that there’s often trouble trade roles from breadwinner to becond banana.
There are some things I liked about this film but a few more things that kept it from reaching the heights it hoped for. First of all the fact that Bradley Cooper directed is an impressive feat, just like the fact that pop singer Lady Gaga steps into the spotlight as an actress. I think both of them did a passable job, much better than any naysayers might have predicted. As an actor Cooper seemed to be just an impression of Kris Kristofferson, but he does do a surprisingly good job singing. Maybe it's surprising just because nobody thought of him as a vocalist. As for Gaga I have always believed that whatever flash and glamour and outrageous behavior draw attention to some pop artists it is little more than a veneer and that without real talent those actswon’t survive long. She has shown substance as well as style.
As the story unravels I personally found the opening sequences of the courtship Etc to be a little bit too sweet just a tad too precious and the gear shift to the heart-wrenching miserable portions a little bit too abrupt. But don’t forget that the last two versions are both tragedies and so is this one even if the endings are slightly different.
As one might expect from something starring Lady Gaga the cast is scattered with some rather strange people some odd characters and a few quirky actors in small roles including Dave Chappelle and Andrew Dice Clay.
As far as a grade I was torn between a C+ and a B- and finally decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.
B-
WSS
-
Never seen the other three movies. But really think that it was really good. And this could of course kick start Gaga's acting career.
-
Never cared for Gaga's singing, but she did an acting part in American Horror Story and was really good.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login