An Excellent Remake With A Powerhouse Sound Track

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2018)

When I went to this, I had seen the Garland version and the Streisand Version. I pretty much knew the plot to expect, and with a few twists got what I expected. Jon Peters is only listed as a producer on this because he owned rights to certain parts of the concept from the Streisand version.
What surprised me is how the chemistry worked here. Now, I have a real life example of this chemistry that to me this film brought in.
Many years ago, I went to the longest live concert I ever attended. For over 3 hours I heard Kris Kristopherson and Rita Cooledge on that stage when the 2 of them were deeply emotionally involved with one another. As I recall, Kris did the first hour, Rita did the second hour, and then for over an hour the 2 of them worked together performing an amazing concert.
This film reminds me of that concert because it kind of presents the same kind of chemistry between Cooper as Jackson Main and Lady GaGa as Ally. It works well. I understand that Cooper did consider a different ending for this movie. I wish they had done it though Lady GaGa's finale is every bit as powerful as Garland, and more powerful than Streisand. Really it is not fair to compare these in this manner, but the point is this film is really Lady GaGa's tour deforce. She is fantastic in this musically based role. Her acting is fine too.
There is one relief on this one versus the Streisand version, this one concentrates on Ally's (GaGa's) nose. The Jon Peters/ Streisand focus was on Barbara's posterior. This shows more taste.
Bradley Cooper's first effort directing is good and does not detract from his acting role in front of the cameras. I am impressed with the cast and crew support. I hope when the DVD comes out for this one, that maybe they did film the alternate ending I have read about. The original story is powerful, but a look at the other idea for an ending is worth a look.
The ending of this one is really a tribute to Garland as it is very much the same as the 1950's version.