"A Star is Born" should not be perceived, just yet, as the Best Picture front-runner. HE's Jeffrey Wells is correct in perceiving that Kris Tapley oversold the situation when he said the Bradley Cooper-directed film had "the muscle to win all five major Academy Awards (picture, director, actor, actress, and screenplay). Tapley went on to say in his write-up that "it’s that kind of accomplishment.” Good God. An "accomplishment?" A remake of a remake of a remake which includes fairly similar narrative drumbeats the other three versions had. I will admit it, Cooper's film is the most technically accomplished version. However, still, "A Star is Born" is not an accomplishment by any stretch of the imagination. Give me a break.
The film really does start off magnificently well, Cooper and Gaga act at their own marvelously-paced rhythm, the pacing lets the characters breathe and the direction is commendably delivered, not to mention the wonderful acting from, of all people,
Andrew Dice Clay as Gaga's father. However, the second half is a real slug. "A Star is Born" lost me when the fame switches from Cooper's country rock star to Gaga's pop-star diva. Character was lost at the expense of melodrama. This is an over-hyped film that will lose its momentum as it is released nationwide during the following weeks. The way it's being sold by critics and pundits is unfair to the film's modest pleasures, and there a few, but not enough for me to have given it a fresh rating on RottenTomatoes earlier this month, which cause a backlash on my Twitter from Gaga's "little monsters."