I don't care if it's overhyped it's still good GEEZ!!!

Rating: 7/10 (22 October 2018)

It might have been easier for me to watch A Star is Born not watching the previous incarnations of the story, including the original 1937 film and the two musical adaptations AND the Bollywood adaptation, but honestly there's a ton of good here that I just feel like overall it's just a damn good movie, albeit over-hyped.
The acting is great all around, especially from the two leads. While I wouldn't call this Bradley Cooper's finest work, at least compared to performances like Silver Linings Playbook, it's still a solid performance all around. He matches the role of the aged and drunken rock star well, plus his voice sounds absolutely amazing backed by some fantastic country and Americana tunes. However Lady Gaga shines in this role. I'm not much of a fan of her music outside of a few tunes, plus I've heard from friends that she's not all that good of an actress from previous roles (and more specifically her Golden Globe win for American Horror Story), her first leading role here works really well. She's great in this! And while I'm not a huge fan of her singing style, I'm not going to deny that she can sing! Although whether or not she deserves an Oscar for this is certainly debatable (she will probably win because the Academy LOVE to give the Best Actress award to roles like her's *coughcoughGwynethPaltrowcough*)The rest of the supporting cast is great, from Andrew Dice Clay to Dave Chappelle to Anthony Ramos. However the real standout has to go to Sam Elliott, who absolutely kills it in this movie, and dare I say one of his best performances in a film!
So let's talk about the music. Largely co-written by Lukas Nelson, son of country legend Willie Nelson, along with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, and including a ton of talented musicians behind the scene, ranging from the likes of Dave Cobbs, Jason Isbell, Mark Ronson, DJ White Shadow, Diane Warren, and (unfortunately) Julia Michaels, the music is some damn great country and Americana songs backed with some fantastic playing and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's great vocals. Standouts for me include Black Eyes, Shallow (which will win Best Original Song I guarantee it!), and Always Remember Us This Way. There are a few duds here, like Heal Me and Why Did You Do That?, which the R&B style doesn't work for Gaga and just felt awkward when she sings it. And the closing song I'll Never Love Again just reminded me of a song Whitney would have done for the Bodyguard (specifically I Have Nothing, and double specifically because when the song is performed in the movie like that scene was so obvious it took me out of the film) and it's just not that powerful unfortunately, just felt like a pale imitator.
What I like about this movie is that, while the story has been told before and the themes are not new, the film makes up for it with just interesting characters for our leads. We can relate and see what each character is going through and feel for their triumphs and their downfalls. The movie benefits not just from the performances, but also from Cooper as a director. It's his first time directing and for a debut it's pretty great! He chooses to adopt a more up close and personal, hand held approach at directing, getting a personal, intimate, and at times unflinching look at these characters lives. This movie is a lot like La La Land in that it might not be original, the effort and care there is with making the film more than makes up for the shortcomings.
Speaking of shortcomings, Bradley Cooper is no Damien Chazelle. In terms of visual blocking and film language, Cooper's approach can't help but feel basic at times. Now to be fair not all debut films from directors can be Reservoir Dogs or Eraserhead, and Cooper certainly shows a ton of promise too, but he falls into a lot of other actor-turned-directors when they make films and go for a safe approach to film-making. His directing style is a lot like how Ben Affleck directs a film, in that it's competent and certainly does capture the feeling of a scene well, but also pretty average too in terms of what's being communicated too. Although the movie doesn't help from the editing, which can be jumbled and at times pretty bad too.
The script also has some problems too. While the movie does feel fresh with it's themes, that's largely from the performances and the direction, and certainly not from the script. Whenever the movie addresses the dichotomy of pop and rock feels dated and sticks out like a sore thumb. I wouldn't say the intent of the film is to say that pop is a shallow genre, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Plus it's not like pop was always an artificial genre that lacks substance. I mean look at acts like the Beatles or Michael Jackson or Madonna or Prince, or even with the current generation like Lorde and Grimes and Beyonce and even Gaga with her last record Joanne, who are all making some truly excellent pop music with a ton of auteurism. I'm also not a fan of how the film ends, which I won't spoil but it felt so forced and really unnecessary other than to provide some cheap emotional manipulation (which is to be expected given co-screenwriters Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button, and Extremely Loud) and more egregiously Will Fetters (Remember Me, the Lucky Ones, the Best of Me) it's something to expect).
I mean a more cynical me would write this movie off as cloying Oscarbait in the style of Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, but I'm not gonna lie there's a lot that works with this movie that makes me look pass the flaws. It's just a really great and likable film! Go see it if you are interested!