Not as bad as La La Land, but not great

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2019)

I am not a Brad Cooper fan. But I do admire his courage here in playing a musician - and singing - and also directing this movie. And I also admire Lady Gaga, who is best known as a musician, for this major foray into acting. She does well. That said, this is not a great movie. For a big Hollywood production, it wasn't as bad as La La Land. It did have more of a story, and fewer gimmicky set up scenes. I like the idea that Ally (Gaga) is discovered in a completely random way when rock star Cooper stumbles into a gay bar she's performing in. I'm not convinced that, being such a bold cabaret performer, Ally would be terrified when Cooper invites her to perform her song with him on stage at a rock festival. She'd love it! Gaga's song, Shallow, is excellent and deserved the Oscar for best song. Cooper sings it well with her. The rest of the movie is pretty average. I wasn't emotionally engaged with it. It was more a melodrama.