The music almosts saves it

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2019)

I never saw any of the previous versions of A Star Is Born, but I did know the basic plot. Most of the movie was pretty good. Her path to stardom was kind of rushed. Cooper sang better than I expected.
I didn't hate the movie but I didn't love it. The pacing was kind of clunky. It often felt like huge chunks of time were missing...a bit like the feeling of waking up from a short nap halfway through a movie and trying to catch up.
I was looking for this thing to wrap up well before the end credits. It felt like they had pretty much told the story and they were stretching it out.
*****SPOILER ALERT*********
The suicide based on her manager's snippy smack down, was so out of character, that it wasn't a twist so much as just jarring. It was very forced.
The manager was a complete lightweight, without nearly enough gravitas to convince the audience that he could bully a kitten, much less a hardened road warrior. There is no way Cooper's character would not have thrown him through a window.
I think Cooper did a pretty decent job of directing but he needs more work as an editor.
Not terrible but not very good either. Gaga's singing brought it up to a 6.