Movie Review: "A Star Is Born" Is the Swoon-Worthy, Meme-Spawning Romance You Were Promised

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper reprise a timeless bad romance in A Star Is Born.

Before Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born was a movie, it was a meme, and before it was a meme, it was meant to star Beyoncé, and before it was meant to star Beyoncé, it was three other movies.

Which is to say, this project has lived quite a life. (Just like Cooper’s bedraggled, big-time musician in the flick itself. Symbolism!)

Inspired by a 1937 film—itself remade in 1954 and again in 1976—this latest version cycled through numerous actors and filmmakers before landing on Lady Gaga, as the titular star being born, and Bradley Cooper, as the star-doula who ushers her character into the world of fame.

A Star Is Born marks Cooper’s directorial debut and Gaga’s first lead role in a feature. In that way, two existing stars are also reborn over the course of its 135 minutes. I only pray that star-midwives are sent to cinemas across the country to attend to this starbaby boom.

Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a sunstained, alt-country stadium musician with baggage. Seeking a drink after a gig, he wanders into a random drag bar where former waitress Ally (Gaga) is singing "La Vie En Rose". They lock eyes and wind up talking all night, before he drops her home, where he asks for a second look as she heads inside. A meme is born.

Because this is not Before Sunrise, and instead follows the logic of movie musicals, Jackson invites Ally on stage the following evening to sing a song she had partly improvised in his company. It’s called "Shallow", and yes, it’s the one immortalised by the lyric "HA AAHAAH AH". However, that doesn’t do the triumphant, spine-tingling moment justice, with Gaga’s nervous body tics betrayed by her inherent, incandescent star quality. Normally, a paying audience would boo any rando who'd been summoned to the microphone. In this case, they’re understandably rapt. Cooper looks on, glowing, and not just because his face is so red it might need to be legally registered as a nightlight.

Anyway. She gets big. He gets small. She’s rebranded as an insubstantial popstar. He leans more heavily on drugs and alcohol, while his tinnitus worsens. But they love each other, dammit, and maybe that’s enough to make it? I won’t spoil how the story unfolds, even though it’s been recited plenty of times before and, even if it hadn’t, follows the predictable beats of so many true stories of waning celebrity. That’s not a criticism; it’s actually what gives the story emotional heft.

It builds to an especially overwrought ending, with both actors making an absolute meal of the tearjerkery. (Another near-fatal mistake: Using the worst song on the soundtrack, "I’ll Never Love Again", for the finale, rather than reprising the best: "Always Remember Us This Way".) Still, the very satisfying A Star Is Born does so much right, it's worth the trip.

As a director and co-star, Cooper fawns over his leading lady (there are soo many close-ups), while Gaga is believable as a normie swept up by celebrity and as a commanding stage presence. Cooper also gives himself ample opportunity to demonstrate his range, in some affecting moments of despair when Jackson hits rock bottom. And Sam Elliott, as Jackson’s older brother and handler, gets a few meaningful scenes, and does the finest reversing-out-of-a-driveway-with-manly-tears-in-his-eyes acting I’ve ever witnessed.

The stage sequences—shot occasionally in a single take by cinematographer Matthew Libatique, though always in a dizzying swirl—similarly feel authentic, down to Ally’s embarrassing performance on SNL. (No musician has survived the infamous soundstage at 30 Rock.)

The script is credited to Eric Roth along with Cooper and Will Fetters, from a story that remains largely unchanged despite having been processed through eight decades of Hollywood history. That means it delivers some big, capital-T ‘Tragic’ romance; the kind that isn't always in vogue, yet always delivers those sweet highs and lows if the chemistry between the leads is right.

Does it do or say anything new? A late monologue spills the subtext, in which the press-shy Cooper suggests, through his characters, that A Star Is Born speaks to his own personal demons. What those may be and how he’s handling them are better left to private speculation, allowing the film to stand partly as an artistic statement but mostly as a moving, crowd-pleasing tearjerker.

As for Cooper and Gaga’s chemistry? Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff. There’s nothing wrong with wanting that and only that. Like a concert-attendee watching their favourite artist bring their girlfriend onstage for a song, sometimes you prefer it when they just play the hits.

4/5

In Australian cinemas 18 October. Rah ra, ro-mah mah, rah rated M for mature themes, coarse language, drug use and sex scenes.