I was offended the first time I saw a preview for A Star Is Born. The film clearly chose one of its key themes to be: is Lady Gaga pretty enough? Somehow, of course, only Jack (writer/director/anesthesiologist Bradley Cooper) sees her for both her talent and her beauty and this is going to be a controlling screenplay factor. Quite frankly, any world that can somehow find flaw in Lady Gaga’s appearance is no longer worth my attention. This is beyond silly.
Ah, but there’s a catch. The theme isn’t “is Lady Gaga pretty enough?” The theme, rather, is “is Lady Gaga pretty enough for pop stardom?” That is a different issue, and the movie isn’t subtle about describing how a talented female singer/songwriter needs an image and a dance troupe and several product lines while a talented male singer/songwriter doesn’t even need to shave or appear on stage sober. Yes, I bet Lady Gaga knows a lot about this world; the mere fact that we know her as “Lady Gaga” and not Maria Louise Ciccone or whatever says everything you need to know … and makes Lady Gaga perfect for this role.
Act I of A Star Is Born is brilliant, one of my favorite first acts in all of 2018. Hard drinking, pill popping country megastar Jackson Maine (Cooper) gives his standard D+ effort to a sold out arena and then goes looking for a drink in a foreign town. He doesn’t even shrug upon realizing that a drag bar is his only option, which speaks to both an open mind and a serious dependency. On stage that night, he discovers not a drag queen, but Ally, an ally to LGBTQ, who is disgustingly talented … although up to this point, only the queens have noticed. Jack is immediately sold, yet drawing from his persona of alcoholism, the celebrity he wears with modest reluctance, and a natural gentlemanly inclination, he simply lives an intimate, romantic, and amiable evening in Ally’s world and goes no further. Act I is punctuated by two of my favorite new songs for 2018: a somber cowboy reflection “Maybe It’s Time” and the film’s stunning centerpiece “Shallow.”
It’s tough to follow up a great first act, and A Star Is Born wasn’t quite up to the challenge it had set for itself. Well, what happened then? Part of it is predictability; if you didn’t know where this was going from the fact that the film is a remake, you will certainly get it from the hints in the first act. Jack has serious substance dependency issues; those are going to be downers. Also, Ally won’t be a new star forever; that will also yield down moments.
Some of the letdown is a picture that went from, say, 20% plot driven to 75% plot driven. What captivated me in Act I was plot-driven only on one level; the meeting didn’t have to be a drag bar, the couple doesn’t have to share quiet solidarity while shopping for frozen peas. Andrew Dice Clay as Old Man Gaga is a lovely touch. As soon as the seriousness takes over, however, the scope of individuality changes; much less of the picture deals with stamping a personal mark on a traditional tale. And somewhere in the middle 
of the picture all of a sudden Bradley Cooper decided he was sick of just directing and he wanted to act a little … or a lot.
One huge mistake the film made was trust in the soundtrack. Unlike, say, That Thing You Do!, which identified the movie’s hit and trotted it out like a show pony on display during every lull, A Star Is Born barely came back to either song named above. This was An error; the rest of the score is far weaker after Act I. As I say, that doesn’t make the film bad, but while the first half of A Star Is Born is a great film, the second half angles more for the “important film” label as if the film is suddenly trying to teach us a lesson or deliberately explore hardship. It’s not enjoyable and it doesn’t work as well. It’s like that part of a Janet Jackson album where she stops having fun and gets all political and stuff; it’s not that this is a bad thing, Janet. It just really doesn’t work half as well as “Escapade,” ya know?
But Act I – I like this part.
♪Maybe it’s time to give Tyler a break
Maybe it’s time to give Tyler a break
He seems to be a decent guy
And the pans have just been cake
Maybe it’s time to give Tyler a break
Nobody knows when this will end
Nobody knows when this will end
Thousands of “reviews” in the books
Yet positions to defend
Nobody knows when this will end♫
Rated R, 136 Minutes
Director: Bradley Cooper
Writer: Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters
Genre: Making a singer into an actor
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Music fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Seen it”
♪ Parody Inspired by “Maybe It’s Time”
