Bradley Cooper's directorial debut

Rating: 6/10 (29 October 2018)

A Star is Born begins with a superbly shot and superbly loud music performance, and similar scenes are scattered throughout the movie. Bradley Cooper is great in his directorial debut as a deep-voiced alcoholic rockstar, who is supported by another set of best in the business pipes in Sam Elliott, Lady Gaga on the other hand is frustratingly wooden which is probably the main reason I couldn't fully get into the movie and liked it less than I thought I would.
I liked the film's ponderings about fame - it takes a look of people behind their celebrity characters, and in that sense Lady Gaga was an intriguing choice to play Ally as she comes out as a bit of an enigma herself (if only she could act a normal person...). Cooper will always have a soft spot in my heart as I've followed his career already since Alias (2001-2006) when he wasn't a household name yet - it was great to see him hit big with The Hangover (2009) and after that he's really shown his versatility as a drama-actor. As an essay on success in show business, I could see A Star is Born being a particularly personal project for him. It's a well directed, yet somewhat unsurprising film, which is brought down by one bad performance.
Fun random facts:

Lady Gaga's first acting credit is from Sopranos (1999-2007)
The film has performances from three former Alias actors: Cooper, Ron Rifkin and Greg Grunberg

Rating: 6/10