Indeed, a star is born in pop music icon Lady Gaga, while co-lead Bradley Cooper proves to be a natural behind the camera in his directorial debut. Together, they’re a winning team, at least according to critics. While no one is making awards predictions just yet (obvious Best Original Song contenders aside), initial reviews for the latest incarnation of A Star is Born (currently Fresh at 90% with 21 reviews counted) are calling the movie a worthy remake after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Check out what the first round of critics are saying:
Lady Gaga delivers a knockout performance.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
[It] deserves to be called a breakout performance.
– Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
She deserves praise for her restrained, human-scale performance.
– Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Lady Gaga is nothing short of extraordinary.
– Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage
[She is] sensationally good.
– Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
Cooper, whose screen persona can so often be bland and unchallenging, makes precisely this conservative tendency work for him in the role. He is so sad you want to hug him.
– Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
It’s testament to Cooper’s performance that he remains throughout a sympathetic and tragic character.
– John Bleasdale, CineVue
The star that is truly born here is Cooper as a director.
– Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
It’s wonderful to see a first-time filmmaker who’s more interested in effective storytelling than in impressing us.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
The opening scenes show him displaying a penchant for Kubrickian one-point-perspective shots, but he’s at his best, as so many directors who came up though acting tend to be, when the camera gets close to his performers and captures their intimate interplay.
– Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
It’s a thrill to watch Gaga and Cooper craft musical magic together.
– Mara Reinstein, US Weekly
Cooper and Lady Gaga are dynamite together.
– Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
Cooper and Gaga are such a well-matched screen couple: they have serious yowch-my-fingers chemistry.
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
[They’re] a miracle of stage chemistry.
– Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage
There’s real warmth and a sexy spark in [Cooper’s] onscreen chemistry with Gaga.
– David Rooney, Holllywood Reporter
The film itself feels like a kind of duet, and suffers when the two aren’t sharing the screen.
– Michael Nordine, IndieWire
An unnecessary remake. Cooper and his team simply aren’t able to reinvigorate material that has been pored over so many times before by other filmmakers.
– Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent
It’s an extraordinary surprise that this new version packs such a wallop…[it’s] for people who never saw a previous version, for people who love any of the previous versions, and even for those who think the property is moth-eaten and old-fashioned.
– Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
The story of A Star Is Born may be as old as show-business, but it is also electrifyingly fresh – a well-known melody given vivid, searching new force.
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
Cooper’s fresh take finds plenty of mileage left in the well-trod showbiz saga.
– David Rooney, Holllywood Reporter
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
[Not] likely to appeal to fans of Gaga’s outré performance-art persona… Enthusiastic performances apart, the songs themselves are unmemorably generic.
– Jonathan Romney, Screen International
Unlike many similar semi-musical films, in which the tracks grind the storytelling to a halt, here the music… does a fair bit of narrative heavy lifting from the beginning… 2019 Best Song winner, for my money: “Always Remember Us This Way.”
– Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
Best Original Song Oscar nods are in the bag.
– Mara Reinstein, US Weekly
This is a musical for lovers and loathers of the genre alike: deluxe studio entertainment like they used to make.
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
In an age where Mamma Mia and The Greatest Showman pass as hit musicals, it’s an exciting reminder of what the genre can be.
– Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
The movie also has some great unexpected supporting turns, including Dave Chappelle as an old friend of Jackson’s and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s Rat Pack-dreamer dad.
– Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
[It’s] a suitable showcase for small but terrific performances from the likes of Dave Chappelle and Andrew Dice Clay.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
Sam Elliot, whose bluff, bittersweet performance as Jackson’s manager and (much) older brother ranks among the 74-year-old’s very finest work.
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
[Features] standout support from Dave Chappelle, Sam Elliott and Andrew Dice Clay.
– Adam Woodward, Little White Lies
It’s going to be a phenomenon.
– Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
A Star Is Born premiered on Friday at the Venice Film Festival, and it opens in limited release on Friday, October 5. Read all the reviews for it here.
