This is Bradley Cooper’s movie, he stars in it, directs it and co-wrote this remake but Lady Gaga steals the movie, don’t get me wrong Cooper is great as the alcoholic music star Jackson Maine who discovers Ally (Lady Gaga) singing late one night in a drag bar but every scene Gaga is in she conveys acting chops nobody knew she had.
Apparently Cooper had to fight hard to convince Warner Bros to cast Gaga in the role of Ally and they only relented after he showed them mobile phone footage of himself and Gaga singing a duet, recorded at Gaga’s house.
This is the third Hollywood version of this movie, in 1954 it was Judy Garland and James Mason, in 1976 Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson starred, I haven’t seen either but this one would be hard to top.
Ally has unlimited potential but has been held back by asshole music executives, she’s working in a big hotel as a waitress singing these late night gigs, Jackson Maine stumbles into the bar drunk after he’s played a massive gig in front of thousands of people, he’s stunned after seeing her perform.
They end up in a parking lot of an all night convenience store, he tells her “Can I tell you a secret, I think you’re a songwriter”.
Maine is chivalrous, sweet natured and extremely charming, he wants to help her career but we also see he has issues of his own, essentially they are two musicians heading in opposite directions. Ally is swept off her feet, as all her dreams are becoming reality, also along for the ride is her father Lorenzo, played by comedian Andrew Dice Clay.
The live music scenes we see of Maine and Ally on stage are wonderfully shot from the stage, you see the real energy of the crowd which were actually shot at real music festivals, apparently Cooper worked on his voice so much he lowered it one octave.
Bobby (Sam Elliott) as Jackson’s older brother does his best to keep the superstar functioning as a touring artist, despite his boozy ways; they have a complicated history and the scene of Bobby pulling out of the driveway is heartbreaking.
This is a love story with a dark undertone running through it, you cheer for Jackson and Ally to make it, but be careful, you might actually shed a tear and not for the reasons you think.
hallymustang rating : 4/5 📽📽📽📽