STARS ALIGN
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga electrify the classic showbiz tale
Passionate, emotional and fearless, the gangbusters “A Star Is Born” is poised to become the movie of the moment — the one everyone has to see right now.
But aside from the incandescent, white-hot performances by stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, the best thing about this film is how unreservedly it embraces and enhances its oldschool Hollywood legacy.
That begins with its nerve in taking on one of most venerable of the studio system’s narratives — first filmed in 1937 (unless you count 1932’s famously similar “What Price Hollywood?”) with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, followed by Judy Garland and James Mason starring in the most celebrated 1954 version and Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in the most recent 1976 attempt.
But more than that, “Star” succeeds as well as it does because it’s made by people — starting with director and co-writer Cooper — who are unapologetic about their belief in these traditional movie stories. This is a team that understands the emotional satisfactions that skillfully contrived fantasies can convey, and who are damned good at putting them up on the screen.
The result is a show business rush so pure it would be illegal if it were a drug. Though the film’s peek behind the celebrity-curtain love story inevitably falters a bit in the second half, the emotional waves it has already created manage to carry us over the rough spots.
Initial credit must go to the screenwriters, the Oscar-winning veteran Eric Roth as well as director Cooper and his co-writer Will Fetters.
With an assist from the Streisand version — which changed the protagonists from actors to singers — they’ve persuaded us to buy into the familiar premise of love between a star on the rise and one on the way down. As ads for the 1937 version neatly summarized, “You will be shocked by the price that must be paid in heartbreak and tears for every moment of triumph in Hollywood.” Who knew?
A three-time Oscar nominee, Cooper took a break from acting for others to make his directing debut with “Star,” and his understanding of the dynamics of the story underline what a wise choice that was. Cooper is unafraid in the face of pumped-up emotion and has assembled just the cast to bring it off, starting with himself.
The actor plays Jackson Maine, a rock god down to his sweat-soaked beard and unruly hair, who turns to pills and alcohol before wailing on his avocado-green guitar as massive crowds swoon. (The film’s concert footage,
Rated: R, for language throughout, some sexuality/nudity and substance abuse Running time: 2 hours, 16 minutes Playing: In general release