TIFF 18' Film Review - A Star is Born

An up and coming ingenue hooking up with a saged flawed mentor is a story as old as Hollywood itself .It's a story that will always resonate with audiences and can take many forms recent Oscar winner The Artist comes to mind. Another example is the The Color of Money where Tom Cruise's Vinny teams up with Paul Newman's reprise of Fast Eddie Felson in the world of high stakes pool.  Therefore it's not by chance that Bradley Cooper has chosen to tell the A Star is Born story for the fourth time on screen. The first being the 1937 original with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March the most recent circa 1976 featuring Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson and many peoples favorite the 1954 edition staring Judy Garland and James Mason.

Here Bradley Cooper's Jackson Maine is an Arizona born stadium playing part country part rock god that can shred on a guitar , hold an audience in the palm of his hand with a ballad but due to years of performing suffers from extreme tinnitus needing a cocktails of booze and pills to get him to the mike on stage each night. When off it immediately looks to drinks himself into a haze before passing out somewhere that is hopefully in his hotel room. After the opening concert scene searching for a drink he ducks into a drag bar where he sees and hears Ally (Lady Gaga) immediately knowing that she has something to say (Jackson's threshold for talent) he flies her out to his next gig having her sing a duet with him on stage. 

Talent manager Rez (Rafi Gavron) sees her potential taking over her career setting her path to the top as Jackson spirals downward. Rez takes Ally in a direction she does not want to go with dyed hair, back up dancers singing songs about her body parts. Jackson calls her on this in a period of sobriety hurting her deeply calling her ugly at one point driving her farther away. The rock star regains his footing by proposing marriage followed by another epic fail embarrassing himself and Ally in the most public way leading her father Lorenzo a strong understated performance by Andrew Dice Clay to step in hard on behalf of his daughter. 

Cooper direction style is a less is more approach. He lets the story play out without any flairs behind the lens. As Jackson, however, he's wrought with pain maybe from doing the rock thing too long or for babysitting his aging alcoholic father as a young boy. He is basically channeling Sam Elliott dropping his voice to a drawling bass not unsimilar to Elliot natural one that is even spoofed in a line in the film. Lady Gaga is fresh and feisty as Ally reminding one of Emma Stone's Mia from La La Land. We all know that she can sing and dance but it's in the quieter scenes that she shines starting from the first night that the pair meets making it clear why a big star would giver her everything he's got knowing that she is the one.

Bradly Cooper's A Star Is Born is a worthy update on a classic show business tale. The story co-written by Cooper, Eric Roth and, Will Fetters has its original beats but follows the flow of these tales from the past. Jackson takes the ultimate step to do what he must to let his protegee flourish. The results are a satisfying turn on an old tune that I can highly recommend.

*** 1/2 Out of 4

A Star is Born | Bradley Cooper | U.S.A. | 2018 | 135 Minutes.

Tags: Alcoholism, Step Brothers, Waitress, Drag Bar, Stadium Show, Music Business, Manager, Marriage, Billboard.