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Starstruck

Review of 'A Star Is Born' (2018)

By Fanpicked MediaPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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Copyright: Warner Bros. Pictures

If I may be brutally honest, I don’t like remakes. Having grown up during the 80s and 90s, I’m accustomed to wildly original ideas being made directly for the big screen. For the past 20 years, we’ve been fed a steady diet of remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, and adaptations of everything from comic strips to board games to amusement park rides. And 90 percent of the time, the remake is always inferior to the original. It’s all about taking the same plot points of the original movie and then sprinkling in modern day slang, technology, and fashion. It’s uninspiring, uncreative, and done for a quick and lazy payday. So when a remake is actually good, and I admit it’s good, then yeah, it must be damn good! Which brings us to this new version of A Star Is Born, the third remake of this story (fourth if you count the Bollywood movie Aashiqui 2).

To put this movie into context, the very first and original A Star Is Born was released in 1937, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, and was about a young actress hoping to make it big in motion pictures, while falling in love with an alcoholic actor who becomes envious once her fame overshadows his own. The most popular version of story was made in 1954, starring Judy Garland and James Mason, only this version was a musical. The third time around was also a musical, released in 1976, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, but this version focused on a wannabe, female musician being taken under the wing of a male musician during the twilight of his career. Now we have this fourth version, which is based mostly on the ‘54 and ‘76 movies, while staying with musicians instead of actors. This 2018 edition stars Lady Gaga (or Stefani Germanotta, if you want to go with the legal name that her parents gave her) and Bradley Cooper (who also directed). Funny enough, Clint Eastwood was slated to direct the movie, Beyonce Knowles-Carter was going to be the lead actress, and the lead actor was going to be any of the usual suspects of Tom Cruise (as he is the top choice of every lead role in every movie ever), Leonardo Dicaprio, Christian Bale, and Will Smith. Wow, now that I’m trying to mentally picture it, this movie would have been radically different if they went with any of those choices! But is this version any good?

Cooper plays Jackson “Jack” Maine, a country singer and songwriter who drinks alcohol like it’s water and pop pills like they are candy. And on top of that, he’s suffering from hearing loss. Gaga plays Ally, a waitress who likes to sing at a drag queen bar once she’s off the clock. While in search for a place to drink, Jack happens into the drag queen bar and is awestruck when he hears Ally sing. The two of them become fast friends, and Jack motivates Ally to get up on stage with him and sing a song that she wrote in her spare time. The next thing Ally knows, her singing career is eclipsing Jack’s, as his drinking and hearing problems only get worse.

I must confess, I’m not much of a Lady Gaga fan. When she first debuted, and she was doing all kinds of weird stunts like bursting out of a giant egg or wearing a dress made of raw meat, I quickly wrote her off as a one hit wonder who depended on gossip and gimmicks rather than actual singing ability. Thankfully, she had that duet album with Tony Bennett, which resulted her in becoming more of a classy, jazz style singer, and she dropped all the outrageous costumes that were distracting from her natural talent. I also never found her the least bit attractive, but she is stunning in this movie, whether she’s just being plain and fresh faced, or she’s all dressed up and wearing makeup. And if that weren’t enough, she can act, too! Incredibly so, considering this is only her third acting performance (the other two roles were cameos in the sequels to Machete and Sin City). If it weren’t for her being a singer long before getting into acting, this would have been the career defining performance of an unknown actress with only two other credits to her name.

As for Bradley Cooper, he does okay for himself. I would say this is a far better performance than the cheesy ones he gave in The Silver Lining Playbook (which was a gimmicky movie, in my opinion) and American Hustle (which was a wannabe Goodfellas). He’s hard to recognize with his full beard and long, greasy hair, so he does disappear into this role. The only problem is how gruff sounding he makes his voice. Yes, I get it, he’s supposed to be a drunk who has abused his throat for years, but there are times when it’s just too hard to understand what he is saying. When you get right down to it, much like the plot of the movie, it’s Gaga who shines the most, and Cooper is just along for the ride.

The supporting cast does well for itself. Sam Elliott plays Jack’s much older brother, who only appears every now and then throughout the film, but he does manage to deliver one standout scene. Andrew Dice Clay plays Ally’s father, and while you might think that is stunt casting, he turns out to be good as a dramatic actor. Shocking, I know! And Dave Chappelle also has a brief role as a retired singer and he also proves he can hold his own in a dramatic performance, even if it is a small one. Frankly, I thought all these roles could have gotten more screen time.

As a whole, I loved the movie’s crisp camerawork, realistic dialogue, and its musical scenes, and I’m someone who doesn’t even like musicals all that much. My only main problem was the editing. There are times where there are jump cuts to the next scene and it feels like another scene was skipped over. Also, the flow of time doesn’t seem all that natural. You’re never really sure if a week, a month, or a year has passed. It would help if the actors’ appearances changed drastically over time, but they always look the same, except for this one instance when Ally dyes her hair a new color. It’s really the only flaw I can think of.

I might have had low expectations going into this movie due to my bias against remakes, but I was pleasantly surprised. And because of that, I hereby give 2018’s A Star Is Born a well deserved four out of five stars. If this movie is still playing in a theater near you, then go and see it. If not, rent it through physical disc, on demand, or streaming services. On a final note, it’s a tragedy that this movie only won one Oscar, and it was for the obvious choice of Best Song. Yes, I get it, this was the third remake of an established movie, and Lady Gaga is known more as a singer than an actress, so it was always going to be a long shot for this movie to win important categories like Best Picture and Best Actress, but I felt that this rare example of a brillant remake warranted those accolades. That concludes this fanpicked review. And remember, when it comes to the media that you consume, be like Indiana Jones, and chose wisely.

Short Version

Pros:

  • Lady Gaga’s spectacular performance.
  • Great, emotional singing scenes.
  • Excellent cinematography.

Cons:

  • Jarring jump cuts with the editing.
  • Supporting cast should gotten more screen time.
  • Bradley Cooper’s gruff voice is often hard to understand.

Verdict: **** (4 out of 5 stars).

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Fanpicked Media

Watcher and critic of movies, television, and streaming media. Helping you pick the media that's best for your consumption.

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