Oddly Paced Beginning, Painfully Slow Paced Second Act

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2018)

A Star Is Born is a beautifully shot romantic drama film that works in messages and themes about drug and alcohol abuse, working in the entertainment industry, fame, becoming washed up as an artist, and loving an addict. While the movie's ideas were powerful, I had a very hard time feeling anything for the characters in the film until the very end. We are introduced to them very abruptly and their relationship begins very strangely, with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling of pushiness and obsession. None of it felt genuine to me and the characters seemed to love only the idea of each other.
The pacing felt off the entire movie. It was fast paced in the beginning parts of the movie but towards the end things dropped off and fell apart to the point where I was unmoved by the movie's ending.
Bradley Cooper is a surprisingly good singer, and Lady Gaga is incredible as always. Cooper talked with a very forced accent oftentimes and would take very long pauses while speaking, however, and it took away from the movie a little.
All in all, it's a decent movie, competently shot and well composed, but I personally had a hard time finding the story believable, connecting with characters I hardly knew, and being comfortable with the strange pacing.