A Star is Born (2018, R)

Making my first start on what are likely to be contenders come Oscar season.  I haven’t seen any of the previous versions of A Star is Born (although I feel like, at minimum, I really need to see the Judy Garland version,) so I can’t compare the new version with what came before, but I enjoyed it and found it well-made.

Jackson Maine, somewhat-fading music star, is dealing with depression, addiction, and gradual hearing loss when he stumbles into a bar after a gig one night, dreading going home and desperate for a drink.  There, he meets Ally, a singer-songwriter who stopped trying to make it after repeatedly being told that, despite her incredible voice, she’s not attractive enough for the music industry.  The two form a quick connection, and after Jack arranges one of Ally’s original songs and cajoles her into joining him onstage, they begin a tumultuous personal and professional relationship.  As Ally’s star rises and she contends with all that comes with that, Jack is hounded by his demons, and public scandals and private struggles batter their relationship.

On the whole, I’d say I wasn’t blown away, but I did find the movie well-done.  The music is lovely (obviously, Lady Gaga sounds amazing as Ally, and Bradley Cooper’s singing as Jack is surprisingly good,) and while some of it bled together for me on first watch, the emotional-centerpiece performances are all finely affecting.  Likewise, Cooper and Lady Gaga both turn in strong acting performances.  They play excellently off one another, and while Lady Gaga’s material stays a bit more in her wheelhouse compared to Cooper’s more challenging role, she delivers when she needs to – my favorite scene of hers is Ally’s first time onstage with Jack, all the emotions flooding her face as she tries to process even a fraction of what’s happening to her.

It’s very much Cooper and Lady Gaga’s movie (especially Cooper, since he also serves as director and co-screenwriter in this, a passion project for him,) but the rest of the cast turns in reliable performances as well.  Sam Elliott does a bang-up job as Jack’s manager/older brother, I enjoyed seeing Anthony Ramos (John Laurens from Hamilton and the recently-announced Usnavi in the In the Heights adaptation) as a friend of Ally’s, and I was charmed by the inclusion of both Greg Grunberg and Ron Rifkin in minor roles when I remembered that Cooper had been in Alias with them.

But while I enjoy the acting, the music, and the direction, the story doesn’t feel quite put together for me.  It’s certainly not badly written, but it’s trying to tackle a lot, and I don’t think all of it is well-served by the script.  In particular, I feel like Ally’s narrative gets a bit lost in the shuffle sometimes, especially when it comes to her musical career and the choices that take her through that story, both the ones she makes and the ones that are made about her.

Bonus points for Jack discovering Ally while she’s singing in a drag bar.  In what can be a pretty heavy movie, all the drag-bar scenes are delightfully fun.

Warnings

Drinking/smoking/drug use, strong thematic elements, brief violence, sexual content, and language.