Review of A Star Is Born (2018) by Reuben T — 09 Oct 2018

This is a remake of the 1976 version frankly, with some elements of earlier versions, as this story has been told by Hollywood for nearly 100 years at this point.

Cooper does not connect with the audience or his tragic character as much as he does in prior works, despite the strong material. He seems to be doing a Jeff Bridges impersonation, which we've seen better by Bridges. There is even a subtle joke about his characters fakey fake gruff voice being stolen from Sam Elliot, who plays his brother. Their troubled home life and complex paternalistic relation is glossed over and much more interesting than the try hard romance with Lady Gaga.

Gaga has at least 2 songs too many and the movie is overlong by at least this much. The final vocal in tribute to her husband, the film's climax of sorts, is a clunker, while the beautiful 'is that alright' is instead saved for the credits. Pretty pretentious as if we've enjoyed the other 10 songs foisted upon us. Gaga can act but there is no chemistry again as per the 1976 version. Overall, over rated and a near miss really by the soul of the film, Cooper, as lead and director.