Review of A Star Is Born (2018) by Jeff L — 05 Oct 2018

There is no denying the chemistry between Cooper and Ga Ga. The soundtrack is outstanding. Ga Ga should see awards for her writing and strong vocal ballads. This film was about an hour away from being a 5 star Oscar contender.

Cooper spends the right amount of time and energy developing the characters and their immediate fascination with each other. Ga Ga lights up the screen with a powerful performance both as an actress and singer/songwriter.

Is there anything she can't do? The problem comes as this story takes off into overdrive. Far too many chopped up scenes depicting a non existent time frame. Was it a month? 6 months? 6 years? We are left to fend for ourselves there.

It felt like Cooper had to shave way too much off and leave most of this story with a lot of promise on the cutting room floor. I am hoping the DVD/Blu-ray release will include a Directors Cut. With an already lengthy run time of nearly 150min it sounds crazy to suggest this be a longer film but the time flies by and it does not feel all that lengthy.

I loved what was there, don't get me wrong, I just left theater with way too many questions left unanswered. Still, A Star Is Born is a great film and Cooper deserves praise for his first entry into Directing.