Review of A Star Is Born (2018) by Alan R — 08 Nov 2018

This is a weak, uninteresting remake of a classic. To be fair, I saw it with my wife and another couple and all three liked it much more than I did. I thought the soundtrack was the strongest part of the movie and even there, I can't remember one song.

I though the weakest part of the movie was the direction. It felt like a collection of individual scenes glued together. It lacked flow and felt like things were happening too quickly and without much reason.

Bradley Cooper's rock-star character falls in love with Gaga instantly and without much reason (he likes her nose?) . He's a rock-star people; women are throwing themselves at him. Not that she isn't attractive but give it a little time to develop, and some basis for the relationship.

He's an alcoholic from the start, but his demise is almost instantaneous and without much explanation. The acting is pretty good, but the so-called chemistry between them was lost on me. It's supposed to be a tear jerker but no one in our party shed a tear and at least one of our party cries at commercials.

The emoting doesn't feel genuine. I didn;t care about any of the characters and since we already know the plot, that is really an essential element. It was overly long and felt it. The audience score on the tomatometer is much closer to reality than the critic's score and, in my opinion, still higher than it deserves.

My advice, enjoy any of the three remakes and save the price of admission. Or listen to the soundtrack; you already know the story.