This is hands down the best review I've seen of "A Star is Born." And it's only a Daily Shouts, not even in the print edition!
I know most of you except for Paul probably haven't seen it, and I'm not sure how often Paul reads this thread. But if you have any interest whatsoever this review is not only hilarious but also exactly nails what is good about the movie and what is less good about it. It's probably worth reading even if you don't plan on seeing it.
I'll post the significant part here, in case you're interested.
A few problems: there's a bunch of gobbledygook (at the top of the story at the link) about who's writing the review or saying what to whom. I don't get it and have no idea why they did this -- maybe it's an inside joke I'm not inside of? It starts out kind of slow with the cousin stuff. And after the ASIB part, it goes on to discuss other movies I haven't seen and am not interested in.
And if Blake Shelton had been like Bradley Cooper he would have deserved the Sexiest Man Alive designation instead of being the weird trolling joke that he was.
But otherwise the review is spot on!
I can't decide whether my favorite part is where it points out that Lady Gaga, although great and very charming in the role, never would have become a star looking like that and singing that kind of music ... or where it describes Bradley Cooper's eyes as "mouthwash blue."
Oh, also I edited a spoiler out of the excerpt, so if you want to avoid that you might not want to read the story at the link.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/if-you-ask-me-why-a-star-is-born-is-the-perfect-nonbinary-gender-reveal-and-all-things-bradleyIn order to fully appreciate the wonderful new remake of “A Star Is Born,” I called upon my cousin Andrew, and not just because Andrew’s senior thesis at Oberlin was titled “Determining the Definitive Performance of Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy’ and Why This Debate Caused My Boyfriend, Derek, to Throw a Mai Tai in My Face.” Andrew informed me that “the 1954 version of ‘A Star Is Born’ remains a gay man’s classic, because Judy Garland singing ‘The Man That Got Away’ is the only possible antidote to any breakup, and it’s what Lindsey Graham hums while he’s trying to get Jeff Sessions fired. The 1976 ‘A Star Is Born’ could be called the straight woman’s empowerment manifesto, because Barbra Streisand not only stars in it, and co-wrote many of the hit songs, but also there’s a credit that reads ‘Ms. Streisand’s clothes from her closet,’ and, during the final gut-busting number, Barbra wears a white pantsuit, as if prophesying the rise of Hillary.”
“This latest version stars and was co-written and directed by Bradley Cooper,” Andrew continued, “which makes it that rarest of all creatures—a musical for straight guys. It’s interesting that, though Bradley is even more controlling than Barbra, and gives himself more adoring, moist-eyed closeups, he’s considered an auteur rather than a diva.” I’d noticed this, too, along with the fact that Bradley establishes himself as the definitive anti-Trump heartthrob; through woke-bro feminism, he may not only nab himself an Oscar but also get elected. Bradley is a new archetype: the gravel-voiced, substance-abusing, manly liberal dude, who selflessly boosts his female co-star’s career. He’s a combination of Beto O’Rourke, Bruce Springsteen, and Matthew McConaughey in one of those moody TV ads for luxury town cars. And, although the movie is the grandest, most compassionate, and most award-friendly display of mansplaining ever, I totally surrendered, because I knew that if I didn’t Bradley would nod stoically and, with a tip of his artfully weather-beaten cowboy hat, tell me that he understood.
Lady Gaga is terrific in the movie, even if the whole thing is very much Bradley’s guide for hurtin’ guys. Bradley is smart about letting us rediscover Gaga without her usual performance-art trunk of wigs, platform shoes, and mega-eyelashes. She comes across as a fresh-faced, radiant young woman who showcases her powerhouse pipes, as if Blake Shelton were about to spin around in his judge’s chair on “The Voice” and mentor her. Blake, who’s had relationships with the singers Miranda Lambert and Gwen Stefani, is actually a template for Bradley’s character, right down to his deep tan, eye crinkles, and benevolent I-love-the-ladies grin. It’s a little odd when Gaga’s character is later condemned as a sellout for singing pop hits in glittering spandex, because that is exactly the brand of dance tunes that made Gaga a breakout star in real life.
I love Lady Gaga and still use “Bad Romance” and “Paparazzi” as my ringtone and spin-class go-tos, but I doubt that she’d have become a superstar warbling Bradley’s country-rock, singer-songwriter sincerity. But none of this matters, because “A Star Is Born” is an ideal route for introducing Gaga as a mainstream movie star; as Andrew put it, “She’s Gaga Lite, for all the straight people who were suspicious when she was carried into the Grammys inside a huge plastic egg, like a deconstructed pair of conceptual German pantyhose.” Bradley also keeps the iconic moment toward the end of the story, when the female lead is introduced at a memorial with, in Judy’s case, “This is Mrs. Norman Maine,” or, in Barbra’s, “Ladies and gentlemen—Esther Hoffman Howard.” Barbra’s movie name would be perfect for a professor of gender studies at Columbia in 1982; Gaga’s movie name is Ally Maine, which sounds a bit like a Second World War naval destroyer.
After swooning over Bradley’s mouthwash-blue eyes—and overlooking the fact that, while Gaga is shown frontally nude, Bradley remains buttoned up—Andrew and I went to see Tom Hardy in “Venom” ... [goes on from there about Venom]
Topic: In the New Yorker... (Read 2403260 times)