A disappointment on the drama department

Rating: 5/10 (30 October 2018)

As a foreword, I went to see this movie in a theatre when my girlfriend asked me to go with her. At the time this film had a IMDB score of 8.4 and the internet was full of overly positive reviews and praises. so I naturally had high expectations. I also had no idea that there are several older versions of this movie, so this review is based solely on my experience of this particular film.
I have to admit, the first ~1,5 hours of the movie were a big disappointment. It felt like watching a self-insertion fanfic of a 16-year-old girl who dreams of a famous and rich man just suddenly appearing into her life, giving her his full attention and basically donating his musical career to her - all the while her character presentation gives me no reason to believe this course of events or even root for the protagonist. The only "flaw" that Ally seems to have is her "weak" self-confidence in the beginning of the movie, which is conveniently fixed when Jack - after knowing her for about 12 hours - sends a guy to stalk her until she finally agrees to come to the concert where they perform the song she invented last night. As the last song of Jack's gig. In perfect harmony. And everyone in the audience instantly and utterly loves her more than the person they actually came to see. It could be possible, yes, but for me it really killed the willing suspension of disbelief.
Instead of establishing solid backstories or personalities for the characters, the movie seems to focus on the fact how "perfect" Ally is, and how much Jack seems to love her. The thing that bugged me the most was how she actually never seems to do anything on herself. After being pampered for a while by Jack's crew, she is taken in by Rez who makes her into a big Grammy-winning star. The theme of staying true to oneself is mentioned a couple of times by Jack, but it is never explored further or used as a motivation for any of the characters. In the end Jack just randomly kills himself, and with no true character development Ally just seems like a flat sell-out. Even the last song that she sings was written by her husband, not her. I actually have to admit that in the bathtub scene where the couple is arguing, I agreed more with Jack because he seemed to have even a little personality compared to Ally.
The storyline itself seems to have potential. Jack's drug abuse, the tension from him losing his career to Ally, or Ally losing her own musical expression and becoming a tool for the industry are some of the things that the movie could try (and tries) to derive drama from. It's a shame that these themes are diminished by the flat characters, occasionally corny dialogue and some weird scenes (i.e. the wedding scene was surprisingly unemotional and out of place). This makes the whole experience disappointingly shallow. The subplot between Jack and his brother was the most interesting thing in the movie, and it actually had some good moments in the delivery of lines.
All in all, the movie isn't terrible. The acting is solid, Lady Gaga is a good singer and the drama actually gets a little better on the second half of the movie. The songs aren't really something I'm into, but I respect the talent that went into making them. Maybe it's the hype backslash that got to me somewhat, maybe it's the fact that I was feeling a little sick while watching the movie, but I just found the whole thing just too soulless, shallow and boring to be an "instant classic" like many people seem to think.
If you try to breathe new life into a very old and overly used plot, you should actually bring something more to the table. Not less.