This movie was enjoyable if a little long.

A Star Is Born follows Ally and Jack. Jack is a world famous musician and Ally is a girl who works in a drag bar and one night their worlds collide. Jack sees her singing on stage and decides to make her his new project and over time Ally begins gaining the fame and popularity that comes with being a singer, and also being known to be with Jack, however Jack has a dark past and deep secrets that soon start to unravel the couple’s world.

I thought this movie was quite long, I have never really been a fan of rags to riches sort of stardom storylines, I tried to watch Walk The Line once and didn’t get very far into it. So I feel part of me was biased against this film from the beginning but the actual story that it told you was really interesting and I liked the intricate moments that it had, although it did drag a bit in some areas and I felt that these could’ve been cut out or could’ve been cut short.

Seeing Ally go from this small town girl with a dream to this worldwide superstar was fascinating to see especially as it doesn’t just show you the wonderful side of it but also the dark side of it, of people trying to manipulate you and change you and you being pulled away from what your true dream was. This also causes a rift between Ally and Jack in their relationship and seeing that side of the coin of fame was really interesting too.

I feel this story has quite a dark message of what do you do in this situation? You’ve been given everything you’ve ever wanted, you’ve been given a life of fame and riches and what should be happiness, and yet your real life doesn’t reflect what is seen on stage. Jack has a huge alcohol and drug problem that seeps into his relationship with Ally a lot and into his career and so while this man has bought you from nothing to something, can you really handle all of the dark side that comes with that too? Would you rather stay that small town girl you always were or have all this wonderful fame but a spouse with some pretty heavy issues that comes along with it?

I didn’t expect the ending to go where it did, of course it was foreshadowed quite a lot if you really looked at the subtext of his brother and his father and how he was spiralling, you could tell that Jack was losing control and in some ways I feel Ally was a project for him. She was something that he could put his time into and he could be happy again because he was bringing someone up who deserved what she was getting, but at the same time, when she got to that point of no longer needing him he had nothing to have control over anymore and I think that’s why he started going bad again. I didn’t expect the movie to go the way it did and it was quite shocking and sad, but at the same time it didn’t really hit me as much as it probably wanted to.

Maybe it was the hype for this film, everywhere I saw how great it was, it got loads of nominations, the soundtrack was everywhere, you couldn’t move without seeing an A Star Is Born poster and yet the actual film was a bit underwhelming to me. I did enjoy it, but it’s not one that I would go back and watch again, although I’m glad I have watched it, I just feel there were some moments that took me away from the whole atmosphere of the piece and just dragged. If those parts were shortened then I feel it could’ve had a better run time and interest to it, although the main story of rags to riches to ultimately wondering if you are actually happy with everything you ever dreamed of is very interesting to watch.

What do you think of A Star Is Born?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding