"The easy way out" or "How Lady Gaga was born"

Rating: 4/10 (16 October 2018)

"A Star Is Born" is a new American 2018 movie and the most recent take on the "zero to hero" story line involving a young female up-and-comer and a struggling older male musician. The most known of these is probably the one starring Judy Garland. These over2 hours we got here give a modern overhaul to the story. Let me start this review by saying that this is the first version of the story I have seen so far. And sadly, I was not impressed at all. I know this movie had been in the making for a long time and I remember reading years ago about it already. For example, Clint Eastwood was attached as director at some point. Eastwood worked with Bradley Cooper not too long ago, which became quite a success for both of them and I am sure Cooper took something with him from seeing Eastwood direct American Sniper. Eventually, this film here became the very first directorial effort for Bradley Cooper himself and he also plays the male protagonist. I have seen people advertize him as supporting, but it's not true. There is no breakthrough for Lady Gaga's character here without Cooper's and in terms of screentime he is also clearly at the very center of the film. But sadly, I do not have too much to say about Cooper here. Or lets say not too much positive. I think the character offered a whole lot more than he put on display here. Eventually, he is nothing more than a forgettable poor man's version of Jeff Bridges in his pretty impressive Oscar-winning portrayal of a musician struggling with addiction, love and his profession. So this film we have here could have been much better with another male lead, maybe an older one although I understand given the romance element they had to keep him relatively close to Lady Gaga to make it work. Now as for Gaga, yes it may be her big breakthrough role on the big screen, but we should not say she is a complete newcomer to acting. She actually is a Golden Globe winner on the small screen already. Therefore I would say what she did with the character here was good and her character is probably the more memorable from the two at the center of the story, but she is far from great either. Certainly not on Emma Stone's level in La La Land for example if we compare recent female-centered stardom movies. She is fun to watch early on thanks to the transformation compared to who she is as a music artist and honestly I am not a fan of her (recent) music really and also not of all the styles she has been promoting over the years. But she does look really good early on in this film before she basically makes it big and becomes the icon she is in real life. So good performance from her, but not great. I like Sam Elliott and he is a nice addition here too and a scene stealer in most of his scenes (which is not too difficult given Cooper's mediocrity), but it's not really bigger or better than anything else he has done in his long career. Should not be a contender for Best Supporting Actor this year, the nomination could be a bit much already. And the exact same comment fits Lady Gaga too.
The writing isn't great either. Gaga's introduction scene in the bathroom was cringeworthy and there was nothing to it except a cheap attempt to show us how high-profile lawyers want her, but she is too wild and free-spirited for them and of course the wedding reference that she immediately accepts Cooper's character's proposal later on. As for Cooper, his career collapsed way too fast to seem realistic I must say. As for the music, there are one or two good songs in here I would say and Lady Gaga's performances aren't bad. A bit of a pity, the best music moment of the movie was used in the trailer already and after you've seen it so many times before other films, then it's just not cutting the cake anymore. Shame. It could have been special. The reference I made in the title of this review, the first 4 words, means that I personally felt that they really took a safe route in making this film. There is not too much wrong, but there is also no greatness and it feels like they were never even going for said greatness. Yes they could have failed and people could have laughed about this becoming a cheap joke, a parody of a classic, and while it is probably no such thing, it feels as nothing remotely inspirational or anything near that despite a story that really could have delivered in that department. The scenes that stay in the mind the most are the ones that are in your face like of course the Grammy stage escalation or the bathroom argument and 2 or 3 others, maybe also the first meeting when Gaga performs and sings in French. This is also one scene when I recognized there was some weak editing in here, some very bizarre shots at Cooper's face that came out of nowhere and did look fairly amateurish. As for the ending, you could say it was brave they pulled through with it, but then again, it was probably only because that's what happened in the original. It had almost zero emotional impact on me I must say and it was not half as touching as they intended it to be. This also had to do with the chandelier hanging suicide reference earlier that felt really rushed in and made no sense at all just as preparation for the final scene involving Cooper's character. I have my own background with alcohol abuse in the family and still the scenes on this difficult subject about Cooper's character and his father felt so weak and forgettable to me and it all was for the sake of it and there was never the true emotional meaning to it and this includes the words of Cooper's character to Elliott's character too. Truly disappointing outcome I must say. I see this film is the frontrunner for Best Picture now and I am really surprised by that. I have seen many many clearly superior movies this year already. There is nothing particularly awards worthy about it and every Oscar nomination it scores (and it certainly will score several) is one too many. I give "A Star Is Born" a thumbs-down, definitely a missed opportunity on giving modern quality to an old story. Do not watch.