Old story, new take, no depth, good music

Rating: 4/10 (28 February 2019)

I had read and heard too much about the Bradley Cooper - Lady Gaga chemistry and I was already sick of it. So maybe I watched it with a little negativity to begin with but the film did nothing to redeem itself. The only way a cliched older-jaded-successful-man-young-naive-talented-girl tale can be interesting is to add some depth of emotion and dimension to their connection, a critical point that Hollywood always misses. A Star is Born missed it too. Bradley Cooper was rather too much in character as alcoholic-and-drug-addict Jack with his low raspy voice and facial water retention. His acting was off the mark probably because he was working so hard on his false voice all the time (gazing bemusedly at Ally all the time does not qualify for acting). And he certainly did not have chemistry with his leading lady. Lady Gaga did a reasonable job with her part. Neither character inspired in any way. The cliches of Jack romanticizing his alcoholic dad, fighting with doting brother, peeing & falling over on the grammy stage etc were truly cringe-worthy. As for Ally's devotion to this schmuck is derogatory to the self respect of women and doesn't fit into modern day values. On a positive note it exposed the pop music culture for what it is and it has some good music. I enjoyed most of the songs, I really loved Bradley Cooper's low false raspy voice and his singing was surprisingly good. Shallow is a lovely song. Unfortunately, this movie is just that, shallow.