A Star Is Born Movie Review - October 2018

This is a review of a movie called A Star Is Born that was released on October 5th. It stars Stefani Germanotta aka Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. This is the 4th remake of this movie. When I saw the trailer I didn't recognize Lady Gaga and wondered who she was. She looks so much prettier with natural hair and makeup. Check out the trailer:

I love Bradley Cooper as an actor and I always find him entertaining so I decided to see this movie. While I use to be a fan of Lady Gaga and her music, as of late her pushing of her political views on to her fans has turned me off. I saw this movie despite her being in it. A one-word description for this movie, depressing. Three words starting with the letter d to describe it: depressing, dragging and disappointing. If you or someone you love has suffered or is currently struggling with depression, do yourself a favor and skip this movie. Having struggled with depression on and off since I was a teenager this movie was just too real and painful for me. I couldn't stand it after the scene of his dog sitting in front of the garage crying so I left. Bradley used his real-life dog in the movie so their deep connection is felt. This scene is about 20 minutes before the end, the movie is 135 minutes long. I can't get that scene out of my head, it's so painful to me and unfortunately, I have been reliving it over and over since. While I have watched many movies over the years that featured depressed characters that I found entertaining without causing distress, this one was a trigger for me and set me into a depression. I've heard from others that it was for them also. Also, I've heard that the scene after that was even worse and that it is a long one. So you have been warned. 

Now that the warning is out of the way, let's travel back to the beginning of the movie. Lady Gaga plays Ally a struggling singer and Bradley Cooper plays the depressed alcoholic character Jack, a famous and popular singer. They meet in a bar. I felt like I was watching a couple of music videos instead of a movie in the beginning. While they were entertaining I wasn't really feeling a connection to the characters. Half an hour in I was looking at my phone to see what time it was since I was getting bored. I felt Lady Gaga and Bradley had no chemistry and I wasn't buying them as a couple. The story jumped around a lot and moved very quickly in time without informing the audience so I couldn't get into their love story or see how it grew. It was like a quilt with such loose threads that the squares weren't connected. If they had just fixed them you could make out the design. I had no investment in their relationship, only the pain that Jack was in. I was feeling his pain throughout the movie after the music video type parts in the beginning. While Lady Gaga did an ok job at acting, she didn't make me believe she was in love with him instead it appeared she was simply using him and nothing more. It was nice to see Andrew Dice Clay who plays Ally's father though he did not bring a single joke along with him. Wow, he looks old in this movie but not in a bad way. You might not even recognize him, it's his voice that I recognized first. It would have been nice if he had a larger part that brought a bit of laughter to an audience that was in tears not long into the movie. Mind you, if you haven't seen someone in your life struggle with addiction and/or depression you might not find it depressing until the last part of the movie, but for me seeing him struggle had me in tears from the very start. Bradley is a wonderful character actor, I felt he totally transformed into Jack so much so that he must have been pulling real-life experiences into his acting. There should have been more scenes of happy times enjoying fame and wealth so one would guess this was written by someone who has first-hand knowledge of the destructive capabilities of the music industry who has forgotten the good parts. Sam Elliot has a couple of scenes as Jack's brother and I really hated his character. He did a great job acting like a rotten brother. Sam should have been used in more scenes to give a depth to Jack's past and explain in detail the painful events that lead to Jack's depression. Every half hour that went by I was looking at the time. The singing and the songs were enjoyable but they had such a disconnect from the storyline. Things seemed to be getting better for Jack, so I was given hope only to be crushed. That part seemed out of order to me, again demonstrating the disconnect between scenes as if key parts of the story are missing. It made me feel like I was taken on a ride in which a blindfold was taken on and off repetitively. Once the scene with his dog arrived I left so I can't speak about the rest, but I hear it's even more depressing which I have no doubt. I hear the ending has everyone in tears. This is a Tears of Endearment type of crying movie. They should be handing out tissues at the ticket booth as they did the day I went to see that movie in 1983.

In conclusion, if you want to cry your eyes out go see this movie, but if you have deep connections to depression and/or addiction skip it. If you must see it, leave when they dye her hair red, it's downhill from that point on. If you already saw this movie or chose to ignore my warning, be sure to visit my depression blog post for assistance. Don't forget to take tissues with you! While I give credit to Bradley for incredible acting that caused me so much pain, it's not worth the pain. If you are ok with that, it is worth the ticket price to see it on the big screen especially during the singing scenes which there are many. There is one scene that makes you feel like you are backstage which was fun. Now I'm off to work hard at forgetting this movie, especially the dog scene. Wish me luck. Tears...

Check out my last three movie reviews for A Simple Favor, Crazy Rich Asians & Searching. Feel free to browse around my blog before you leave. Check out my Pinterest Board for links to my other blog posts that may interest you along with my Movie Reviews Pinterest Board. Be a pal and share this blog post with your friends via Twitter & Facebook: Tweet

Have a PEACEful Day!