"A Star Is Born" Review

CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2018

Volume 164, No. 200 Serving Chicago’s legal community for 163 years

He is effortless as Maine, a kindly abusive alcoholic. As direc- Even in fourth tor, actor, and even as singer, Cooper gets Maine. Although stratospheric as a mu- sician, “A Star is Born”is Gaga’s RE B E C CA first feature film of any substance. iteration, ‘A Star is L. FORD Ally’s looks are her Achilles heel, and Gaga takes a huge risk by appearing without the conceptual Rebecca L. Ford is counsel to Scharf costumes and glittery makeup of B orn’still shines Banks Marmor LLC, and concentrates her the Gaga character. She is beau- practice on complex litigation, compliance, board governance and specialized tiful in the way that Cher is beau- employment issues. She is the former tiful —partly because she is ex- Cooper ’s directorial debut and Gaga’s first executive vice president for litigation and otic, but mostly because she wills intellectual property at MGM. She can be it to be so. big-screen moment is magnetic, memorable reached at [email protected]. We are intended to experience Ally as an authentic person, Gaga u n m a s k e d . t’s an American fable, M e n”). Ramos is clearly beside Elliott provides twangy gravitas. There is a scene in which Ally’s durable as “C i n d e re l l a”and himself to have a highly visible T h e r e ’s tension between the two manager, the villain of the movie, romantic as “Romeo and role in such a big movie at Gaga’s because Jackson has become fa- pressures her to dye her hair and J u l i e t . ” side. We couldn’t be happier for mous by lifting Bobby’s vocal camp herself up. Ally pushes In this evergreen Pyg- him. style, and one of the subliminal back. She knows she’s got talent malionI story of “A Star is Born,”a Andrew Dice Clay, the former pleasures of the movie is listening and doesn’t believe she needs famous man discovers and mar- comedian who in the 1990s spe- to the sonorous cragginess of such props. ries a talented young woman, then cialized in sexist and racist insult Cooper’s voice as he imitates El- The irony is not lost on us. We self-destructs when her star humor, is apparently back from liott. know what the future held for the eclipses his. e x i l e . Cooper’s dog Charlie is cast as former Stefani Germanotta who Fredric March and Janet was once confronted with a sim- Gaynor were the doomed couple ilar choice. in 1937; James Mason and Judy Cooper has a strong directorial Garland in 1954 and Kris Kristof- Cooper, in addition to starring in the movie, hand and doesn’t veer off onto ferson and Barbra Streisand in co-wrote the screenplay and some of the songs, self-indulgent tangents. He uses 1 9 76 . lots of close-ups, knowing that we Now Lady Gaga and Bradley directs the film and, most surprisingly, holds his c a n ’t get enough of him and cer- Cooper headline this Kleenex-de- own vocally opposite Lady Gaga. tainly not enough of Gaga. pleting chestnut as Ally Campana The chemistry between Cooper and Jackson Maine. and Gaga is magnetic, as is the Cooper, in addition to starring He charmingly —yes, charm- the couple’s cheerful canine com- a c t o r s ’chemistry with the audi- in the movie, co-wrote the screen- ingly —plays Lorenzo, Ally’s limo- panion. ence. As far as this film is con- play and some of the songs, di- driver father. Lorenzo is a recov- Since getting his star card cerned, the lovers are the only rects the film and, most surpris- ering alcoholic, and he knows how stamped with the “H a n g o v e r ”s e - people in the world. They are all ingly, holds his own vocally op- to handle an out-of-control drunk ries, Cooper has taken on chal- we want to see. posite Lady Gaga. even when it’s the famous son-in- lenged and wounded characters: The movie ends with the Ally’s doting gay best friend and law he fawningly admires. an Iraq War veteran with PTSD largest, longest close-up in the his- wingman, Ramon, a bouncer at Sam Elliott is usually the in “American Sniper,”a bipolar tory of show business. the drag bar where she sings, is hottest guy in any movie, but this divorcee in “Silver Linings Play- The screen is filled with Gaga’s the adorable Anthony Ramos is Bradley Cooper’s show. As Jack- book”and a con artist in “A m e r - f a c e . (“H a m i l t o n ,” “Monsters and s o n’s much older brother, Bobby, ican Hustle.” A movie star is born.