"A Star Is Born (2018)" Review
"A Star Is Born" is the third remake of the 1937 classic and like all other versions, it's about a falling star falling in love with someone who becomes a rising one. This version is directed by and stars Bradley Cooper along side Stefani Germanotta aka Mother Monster.
As far as love stories go, this one hits deep and taps into a highly personal place in its characters. Big things happen but at the end of the day the highest stakes are the ones they have in each other. Let me briefly compare it to La La Land. In La La Land, the movie was good because of the music and the technicality that was on display while the love story was mediocre. In A Star Is Born, the love story is extremely effective while the music is mediocre. I'm sorry, I'm just not into modern pop music and there was a moment where I was legitimately confused whether the music was supposed to be intentionally bad or was simply terrible. I'm a music snob for sure and not everyone's gonna agree with what I just said. I mean, "Shallow" is a good song but it's no "The Man that Got Away", you know?
Bradley Cooper is as amazing in front of the camera as he is behind the camera. He totally understands how to frame the shots and when to cut away from a scene with a majority of the musical portions being made up of mediums and close-ups on the actors' faces and that cut in the end of the movie blew my fucking mind! Sam Elliott and Dave Chappelle are great as well and I wished I saw more of the latter but, oh well. One performance I was totally not prepared for was Stefani Germanotta's. Holy shit, can she act. You believed and empathized with Cooper and Germanotta's undeniable chemistry and I wouldn't be surprised if both of them got some awards recognition from this.
Overall, A Star Is Born is a potent and gritty love story about two flawed people. Their relationship, smart writing, and tour de force performances make this remake worthwhile. It's just I think the music kind of sucks and prevents me from loving it completely. But if you're into pop music and Mother Monster, you'll probably love it.