Cast:
Lady Gaga (Ally Maine), Bradley Cooper (Jackson "Jack" Maine), Sam Elliott (Bobby Maine), Andrew Dice Clay (Lorenzo), Rafi Gavron (Rez Gavron), Anthony Ramos (Ramon), Dave Chappelle (George "Noodles" Stone), Greg Grunberg (Phil), Shangela Laquifa Wadley (Bar Emcee), Willam Belli (Emerald), Ron Rifkin (Carl), Rebecca Field (Gail), with Michael Harney (Wolfie), and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. Directed by Bradley Cooper.
Review:
"I always knew, goddamn it, I’m gonna have to at some point put it out there, directorial debut. And then I was like, when am I gonna have the guts to do it? And I also knew I could only direct something that I had a point of view about. And I always wanted to tell a love story. I thought, there’s nothing better for me cinematically to able to tell a love story, like a real love story, a broken love story."
"I always knew, goddamn it, I’m gonna have to at some point put it out there, directorial debut. And then I was like, when am I gonna have the guts to do it? And I also knew I could only direct something that I had a point of view about. And I always wanted to tell a love story. I thought, there’s nothing better for me cinematically to able to tell a love story, like a real love story, a broken love story."
Here we are again, seeing the old become new with prominent faces behind it to headline a new take on the traditional stardom story. One starts with the director, who also served as director, co-producer, co-writer (with Eric Roth and Will Fetters), and singer. Bradley Cooper wanted to become an actor when he was introduced to films like The Elephant Man (1980), which he later starred in a Broadway adaptation of. The Philadelphia native studied at Villanova University before transferring and graduating from Georgetown University with studies in English. He trained in acting with the Actors Studio and got into acting on television in 1999 and film soon after. Regular work and some recognition came with the TV series Alias and Wedding Crashers (2005), but it was his starring role with The Hangover (2009), which had two subsequent sequels with him as star alongside films like Silver Linings Playbook (2012) that helped him find prominence as a lead. But of course there are two stars to nearly every film, so enter Lady Gaga. Encouraged as a child to be a "cultured young woman", she learned music from a very young age such as the piano while also doing high school stage productions. She also studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and Collaborative Arts Project 21, although she dropped out of the latter school to focus on music. Her album The Fame (2008) was her first success, and she has moved on to further success with her music that range from electronic to dance to pop; this is only her second film role (not counting a handful of appearances as herself in documentaries), having had her first prominent television role in American Horror Story: Hotel (2015).
The strange thing is that I forgot to do this film when it originally came out. Even though I had seen the first two films of the same name, I honestly did not think to do this film because it was quite a busy time to do other stuff (that, and it felt better to cover the other film...which took nearly two years to do). So, why not a quick little rundown of each of the three films: The original film was released in 1937 with a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson (with several other writers contributing and direction by Wellman). It is the only one to not have any songs (since it isn't a musical) - as a whole, it was a pretty good movie, tender in its setup between stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March that was noted for having similar aspects to What Price Hollywood? (1932) alongside inspiration from the marriage of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay. The 1954 remake (written by Moss Hart) was a grand classic with Judy Garland and James Mason as the key stars, dynamic in its music with well-timed direction from George Cukor. The 1976 version (written by John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, and Frank Pierson), starring Barbra Streisand & Kris Kristofferson and directed by Frank Pierson, was a monumentally cheesy affair, an ego-trip involving Streisand that can't sell romance nor as a rock star. It shouldn't be a surprise that there had been plans by Warner Brothers to do another A Star is Born for years, with ideas of casting stars being as early as 2000 that looked for directors such as Clint Eastwood and musicians such as Beyoncé; Cooper expressed interest in doing the film despite close friends warning him.
What we have is a romance between country rock and pop, which seems more fermented in attempts at honesty within addiction and fame that may rank it just as good as the 1954 version if not better. Gaga does well with trying to hew down-to-earth quality in terms of find confidence within dazzling chemistry with Cooper that is enjoyable to see her journey through soulful singing that includes an easy favorite performance with "Shallow" that keeps the line between celebrity and vulnerable at the right distance. Cooper simply makes a welcome debut in directing, one that seems like a personal film for him (as he also struggled with alcohol addiction early in his career), and all that training of singing and music-playing seems to have paid off greatly - he grits his way towards struggle and self-assured damage with the right sense of conviction needed to make a worthy pair come alive with star-crossed romance. Elliott carries his traditional resonant presence and voice with efficiency, easily believable to see interact with Cooper with resolved and unresolved ends of brotherly conflict and love. Clay (a stand-up comedian with various turns in acting - both comedic and drama) proves equally as useful in homespun warmness, useful for what is needed in his scenes with Gaga without becoming sopped in sentimentality. Gavron, Ramos, and Chappelle round out the cast well enough in the edges with what is needed, whether in ambition or devotion. As a whole, it makes a worthwhile 136 minutes in how it makes a fine-tuning on the original structure from before that seems fresh enough to seem necessary while having interesting presence and an engaging soundtrack full of songs (which Cooper and Gaga did live, by the request of the latter) that are pretty enjoyable in earnest grit with a mixture of pop and country rock. It is a welcome remake that contains some grounded performances alongside music and story to make a mostly worthwhile experience with a winning duo at the helm to carry it along.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
