A Star is Born

A Star is Born is a classic story of a young ingenue and a veteran star who fall madly in love with each other. However, as the relationship leads the ingenue to greater and greater heights the veteran finds (and it is always a 'his') his career starting to diminish which only exacerbates his addiction and self-destructive behavior. While the 1937 original has inspired countless imitations it's also had three official remakes with the last two trading in Hollywood for the music industry. This version sees Bradley Cooper in the Kris Khristofferson role from 1976, in addition to also writing and directing the film. His ingenue comes in the form of Ally, an aspiring singer with a natural talent for song-writing, here played by Lady Gaga.

Previous adaptations have generally split the focus between its male and female leads either evenly or in favour of the leading lady. However here Cooper's drug-addled country rock star Jackson Maine takes centre stage, occupying the majority of screen time and serving as the audience POV. It's an interesting choice from a storytelling perspective though it's not helped by the fact that Jackson is such a thoroughly unlikable character. A typical hard-drinking, drug abusing rock star who stumbles through every interaction yet also feels the need to dominate every scene. That becomes a problem when it comes to Ally's career, if not their entire relationship.

What at first begins as a mutual appreciation of talent and personality quickly becomes a need for Jackson to elevate Ally, regardless of her feelings on the matter. While it's sweet in intent Jackson's method's boarder on obsessive. Having his assistant relentlessly stalk Ally until she agrees to attend his show whereby he pressures her to perform an unrehearsed duet in front of a ravenous crowd. Because this is a movie this obviously goes down a treat rather than the traumatic humiliation it has the potential to be. But if A Star is Born expects us to embrace a little cinematic magic then it's at painful odds with the first hours, grounded realistic tone. Even if that first hour is the most earnest believable and entertaining section of the film overall.

That it takes a full hour to just complete the first act should give some indication of the films structural problems. While the 1976 version has it's faults it at least spends considerable time showing Esther and John building a life with each other. Cooper's version though is in such a rush to run through it's story beats that everything about his and Ally's relationship post-first act feels hollow and empty. From Ally making his rural house feel like a home entirely off-screen to the casual decision to make Jack play backing guitar because suddenly he's a has-bean. None of it feels real or affecting or meaningful and by the end you're just waiting for the wrap-up.

Cooper's A Star is Born is a solid directorial debut but even as it's well aware of it's own legacy it's a shockingly mediocre version of a twelve note song that been playing on repeat for almost a century. With the sole distinction of perhaps having the best songs of any of its predecessors.