A Star is Born (2018)

Starring: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Rafi Gavron, Anthony Ramos, Dave Chappelle, Alec Baldwin, Marlon Williams, Brandi Carlile, Ron Rifkin, Greg Grunberg, Eddie Griffin
Directed by: Bradley Cooper
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An aspiring musician (Lady Gaga) gets her big break when she befriends an established but troubled music star (Bradley Cooper).

Review:

Tim: So, I enjoyed the original A Star is Born and I liked Judy Garland's remake even better. I still haven't seen Barbara Streisand's version, but I'm working on it. I say all that because I wasn't quite convinced we needed a fourth version of this film. If I'm being honest here, I wasn't quite sure about Bradley Cooper making his directorial debut with this, or with his casting of Lady Gaga. It felt overly ambitious for a first time director to remake a film for the third time while casting a musician (not an actress) in the lead role while also starring the movie himself. It was like Cooper stacked all the cards against himself. And yet, he completely pulls it off. I'm a bit flummoxed at what he accomplished here. A Star is Born is a great film. I liked it better than the first two versions, and it stands as one of the very best movies of 2018. There's probably no reason this movie should have worked as well as it did, but Cooper crafts a great film. This is one of the biggest, most welcome surprises of the year.

One of my big criteria for watching movie is how engaged I am in the story. In far too many films, I feel the pull of distractions. Let me check my phone. Let me think about something else. That didn't happen here. I was pulled into the story and the characters almost immediately. Cooper crafts a film that sets up interesting, complex characters that we can relate to and care about. He ratchets up the story and the drama and it's all so compelling. He delivers some remarkable scenes along the way. In short, A Star is Born is an entertaining, expertly crafted film. It feels like this was Cooper's eighth directorial effort, not his first.

I have to give Cooper a ton of credit for his performance. He directed himself to a Best Actor nomination, which is impressive. He absolutely deserved it, though. Cooper's Jackson Maine is a fascinating, unforgettable character. I don't know how Cooper does what he does with his voice (compare Jackson's to Rocket Racoon and it's simply stunning). I loved his gravely, world-weary voice. His performance is unexpected yet emotional. It all adds up to a powerful, occasionally mesmerizing performance. I really loved Cooper in this film. As impressive as it is that Cooper directed himself to an Academy Award nomination, it's probably three times as impressive that he helped Lady Gaga get nominated herself, for Best Actress. Lady Gaga is talented, but she's not a great actress. If you look at her few acting roles in films before this one, they were fairly weak. I wouldn't quite call her performance great here, but she was vastly better than I expected her to be. Yes, her inexperience gets exposed at different points in the film, but overall, she was quite enjoyable in the role. She brought some needed enthusiasm and energy to the performance. I left the film feeling impressed with her work. I don't mean to diminish her effort by praising Cooper for his directing of her- she puts in a ton of work to make her performance effective- but you also know she got assistance from her director.

I was really excited to see Sam Elliott in a supporting role and I was ecstatic he was nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor. It looked like he might have won it for a while, although it ultimately didn't happen. It would have been great for him to win, although I have to admit his role wasn't big enough. He's great in his few scenes, but it doesn't surprise me that he didn't do quite enough to win. The movie would have been better with a few more Elliott scenes. Speaking of good acting, I haven't heard anyone mention how shockingly good Dave Chappelle is in this film. There was a moment in his performance where I leaned forward in my chair and just whispered. "wow!" He has a great, subtly emotional scene that really added to the film.

This film was nominated for an impressive 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I was a little disappointed in only walked away with 1 win. It felt like a better movie than that and I wish it had taken home more awards. Still, it's fitting that it won for Best Original Song. "Shallow" is a fantastic song that Cooper uses brilliantly within the context of the film. It's entertaining, catchy, and meaningful. I really enjoy the song and have been happy to hear it on the radio so much. The other nice thing about this means that Lady Gaga is now an Academy Award winner. She did a fantastic job with that song and I was pleased to see she received this award. I just wish the movie as a whole won more.

A Star is Born bucks any expectations or concerns with it. I would never have expected the third remake of any movie to be as good as this one was. I had an incredible time with it. While seeing the first two movies took away most of the surprises it, it didn't diminish the viewing experience. Cooper did something here that really shouldn't be possible- he made the fourth version of a film better than (at least) the first two versions of it. This is a great movie and easily one of the best films of 2018.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: A Star is Born (1937), A Star is Born (1954), A Star is Born (1976)