A star is born...not the brightest though

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2019)

A Star Is Born is the fourth remake of the film, which stars Bradley Cooper (Alias, American Sniper) and Lady Gaga (American Horror Story) and it follows how the former, a very successful musician stumbles upon the latter, a struggling singer and how he takes her from performing at a drag show to singing in front of a massive crowd as a featured guest on his concerts which opens the door to her own successful singing career.
This is an unpopular opinion so I'll just rip off the band aid quickly: I do not get the numerous acclaim the film is getting. Maybe it's because I've heard so much praise about it but after seeing 6 of the 8 Best Picture nominees side by side the discrepancy is apparent but if I've seen it on it's own I might have a different opinion about it.
Aside from Best Picture, both actors are nominated for their respective roles of which for Cooper I get because he was acting every second and he's a disaster when he's drunk, but is the sweetest when sober. His voice had a lower tone, he plays the guitar and sings. I won't even attempt to figure out who will win Best Actor between him, Christian Bale and Viggo Mortensen because they all deserve to up there. As for Lady Gaga, I'm not entirely convinced why she's nominated. Don't get me wrong, she turned in a decent performance, her chemistry with Cooper was there and she had her moments, most notably their bath tub scene. On the other hand, I felt her acting was lacking, like Cooper as Director didn't push her hard enough and for some reason I kept on thinking Katharine McPhee would've done a better job. Maybe that's where the disparity comes from, Cooper was giving 110% while Gaga to which no fault of her own could barely manage to come up with 90%.
I also don't get the hype over the soundtrack (Shallow has surpassed Michael Jackson's 'Thriller for the most number of awards won,) with most of the lyrics I found basic and trite. I'm sure it will grow on me with multiple listening, same as the movie, which brings me back to my statement that I expect more from a Best Picture, Actress and Song nominees. So a star may have been born, but they aren't that far from the shallow now.