A Star Is Born

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2018)

IMDB Movie Review
Skylar Molen
English 100-002

Over the weekend, my best friend and I went to the movie theatre to see "A Star Is Born", directed and co-written by main character Bradley Cooper, co-starred by Lady Gaga. The film is a story about a successful rock star/musician, Bradley Cooper's character Jack, who discovers a young and talented singer, Lady Gaga's character Ally, and helps her find fame and success. At first, it seems like a beautiful love story, two musicians meet, make music together, and fall in love. Though throughout the movie Ally and Jack's story proves to be much more complicated after all. Jack is a heavy drinker/drug user who's hearing is declining. In the movie he deals with family issues, and personal pain. The viewers see him struggle and fight throughout the movie with himself and his career as him and Ally struggle in their marriage. He lets himself go as Ally changes herself to become more successful in the industry. Jack gets help with his addictions and you feel a happy ending coming for Ally and Jack, but then the movie ends tragically. It's a plot twist and definitely effected the viewers. There wasn't a dry eye leaving the theatre.
Now that you know the background and the story line, lets discuss the good and bad things about the actual film. This film has amazing acting and writing in my opinion. No actress could have played Ally's character as well as Lady G. If you are a fan of Lady Gaga, you know she is a talented singer and it shows in this movie, but what also shows and came as a surprise was her acting skills. The on-screen chemistry between Jack and Ally was awe-inspiring, and it made the film feel real. Bradley Cooper was amazing as usual, and played the part of an addiction ridden alcoholic very well. His struggle intrigued viewers and brought them into the film on a personal level. I think the film did a great job of that, making the movie personal to anyone who watched it. Jack was an alcoholic drug addict with family issues, and Ally wanted her dreams but had to change her appearance and music to reach them. If you couldn't relate to either character personally, you probably know someone who can, and that's where it hits home and draws in a crowd. Now for the not-so-great things I found about the film... first off, the running time for the movie was two hours and fifteen minutes. Along with many other reviews, I felt it could be shortened. The later part of the film seemed to drag on and focus on Jack's struggles when it didn't need to any longer, leading to the tragic ending. To sum up my feelings on that-the first part of the movie drew me in, and had me on the edge of my seat for Jack and Ally's relationship-while the later part bored me into the ending. I think if it was shortened it would have a more dramatic effect in the end. Another disappointing factor was when Ally lost who she was while trying to find fame, she never found herself while Jack was still living. He just wanted to show her the raw talent he first saw in her, but she loses sight of that when her manager prompts change. That drew me away from the story a little because I wanted Ally to find her true talent again, for Jack. Overall though, I still left the movie heart wrenched and thought it was a beautiful film.