Missed Opportunities

Rating: 5/10 (29 October 2018)

I enjoyed the first 45 minutes of the film. I found the way Jackson (Bradley Cooper) and Ally (Gaga) met, began their collaboration, and fell in love, to be captivating. The high point of the film was the first time they performed live together. The on-stage scenes were filmed beautifully and realistically.
I found the rest of the film to be mediocre because of minimal character and plot development. Here's an example: Ally gets into a fist fight with policemen early in the film, which set an expectation that this side of her character would be elaborated later on. But - oddly - she never portrayed any form of (physical) aggression thereafter. This fist fight snippet had me waiting for scenes of jealousy and heated arguments, in response to the many challenges of being involved with a major rock star (e.g., him being on tour, late nights with band members and roadies, long-distances, infidelity, groupies etc). Ally didn't get the chance to explore and react to these kinds of experiences at all, which made me question why the fist fight scene was even shot to begin with. In relation to this, I have to ask: where were the groupies? Where were the backstage stories? How can a rock extravaganza exist without any backstage action? I just didn't find the 'context' of the relationship between a rock star and a rising star to be realistically portrayed.
Another character/plot weakness included Ally's development as a musician. She started as a scruffy, unconventional, rock singer (which suited her), but then rather abruptly "sold out" to become a pop star (we got to hear horrendous songs at that point), and ended up in a posh concert hall propped up like a Celine Dion (!) I found these transitions to be bizarre, boarding on the surreal.
I think Gaga was the weakest link in this film. While her role could have been 'easy' for her (she has relevant experiences to draw from after all), she struggled. To the contrary, Cooper's rock star performance was almost effortless, but still, I was expecting more complexity, more to be going on in his personal life. Apart from the references to his troubled childhood, it was as if he had been carrying no other personal baggage at the time he met Ally - how could this be? Give us an ex-wife, a child from a woman living in another country - something to show that he has... well, lived! Didn't Cooper read any rock star bios prior to this?
I also didn't like the end. Jackson may have had weaknesses, he may have been a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, but I found his last move to be out-of-character. He did show quite a bit of maturity throughout the film and I thus felt that he could have "helped" Ally in a different way. The end was a classic example of cheap sentimentalism; some viewers were crying, so I guess you could call the film a tearjerker.
It's an okay film that's been overrated by viewers and critics alike.