The Cooper and Gaga duo is perfection in this near perfectly executed film.

A Star is Born is without a doubt my favorite film of 2018, even in a year of films that had some true greats like You Were Never Really Here. I was incredibly hyped to see it.

Starring Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay and several other greats, and directed by Cooper himself, this film tells the story of a struggling rock star Jackson Maine discovering an incredibly talented singer, Ally (portrayed by Gaga).

The plot most definitely has a familiarity to it, but that’s not a bad thing as the film is executed wonderfully. Cooper’s portrayal of Maine was somewhere between a Bruce Springsteen, Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder, and I loved his character. 

I really didn’t have a clue about how Gaga’s performance was going to end up, but she blew me away. The characters were anything but one dimensional. They had many dimensions to them in their humanity that it was so real, it hurt.  Their relationships absolutely carried this film.

The characters had some spotty moments. I wasn’t sure if the writing was just slightly worse in moments, but it is a film with so much effort put into it that you really have to dig deep and interpret the scenes before you reserve judgement.

I also really loved the soundtrack. Hearing that Cooper would be doing his own singing was weird at first, but he absolutely pulled it off, with Gaga already having established her godly singing abilities in her music career. The songs Maine sang were similar to Gordon Lightfoot or Bruce Springsteen, and I really liked them. The scenes of the music performances were intense and impressively filmed. 

A Star Is Born will most definitely sweep during awards season. It is a film that possesses a sincerity and authenticity to it that is incredibly special. All the problems I have with the film have to be put into question, as this film’s simple story is so amazingly executed that even the lesser moments could be interpreted as purely intentional. This cast absolutely killed it. While Dave Chappelle doesn’t have a huge role, I loved him in it, and I loved Sam Elliott and Rafi Gavron as well, but I loved every performance. I left the theatre feeling emotionally drained in the best possible way, as I loved this film so much. While I am still thinking through the issues I have with the film, A Star is Born is absolutely worth watching.