Another star is born

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2018)

This is the fourth version of A Star is Born. It is an adult orientated blue collar musical drama.
Lady Gaga plays Ally, a waitress who sings part time in a drag bar. She writes her own songs but realises she will never get that big break because of her looks, especially a prominent nose.
One night country rocker Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) walks in looking for a drink after a concert. Maine is still famous touring with his past hits.
Maine is enchanted by Ally. He invites her to see him in concert where he asks her to sing one of her songs with him onstage that goes viral. They have a whirlwind romance which perks up Maine's life.
For Ally, the future is bright as she is pursued by record executives. For Maine, it is a life of booze, drugs and tinnitus.
As Ally achieves success, Maine's life spirals downwards. It is a question of whether Maine is hindering Ally's success with the drugs and booze.
Cooper stars, directs, produces, sings and co-wrote the screenplay. For him it is a labour of love.
What caught my attention was that it was a working class drama. The film does not show the glamorous side of LA. It is a blue collar look of Ally's life and family.
Even Maine lives a humdrum life. Probably why he need drugs and booze to keep him going.
The romance might had been a bit too quick but it needed to be make the film tick. It is overlong and some of the songs are not that memorable. Lady Gaga gives a good performance but she is not stretched by playing a singer. Although it is interesting to see her face without her normal heavy makeup. It is also brave for her to show some nudity even a glimpse of going full frontal.
The film is muddled regarding Maine's backstory, his relationship with his much older brother and some of the dialogue was muffled. However I found the first half better when the focus is on Maine rather than the more pop oriented second half when it shifts to Ally.