"Because you usually choose and I want to see this."
Well, you can't argue with that. And to be fair, the trailer actually looked good. And the stars were a laugh on the Graham Norton Show. It's bound to be fine.
Part way through the film, I was genuinely thinking I'd buy the soundtrack.
By the end I never wanted to be reminded of this film again.
To be honest, I'm only writing this because I have to.
Although I'm still struggling to get a handle on what about it has made me so angry.
The fact this is the fourth version of this film is a part of it — this one being more a remake of the 1954 Judy Garland version than the 1976 Barbara Streisand classic.
I mean, yes, sure, we're begrudgingly getting used to stories being re-told, but a fourth time? Really? Was there nothing else in the in tray?
And it's not the performances, either.
Lady Gaga as the young Ally, stumbled upon by a drunk Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper, who also stepped behind the camera to direct this version) in a New York drag club, is both captivating and believable.
I mean, sure, they're kind of telling her story here, and it could have been called A Gaga Is Born without changing the essential plot — but she still had to act, and she does it damn well.
And Cooper's easy on the eye. Not great at playing a drunk (his eyes still sparkle), but one hell of a singing voice on him which makes the concert footage a lot more believable.
And the supporting cast — not forgetting dog Charlie — are all up to the job and bring depth to the story....
But...
And it's not the songs. Both Maine's country-rock tracks (penned by Willie Nelson's son Lukas) and Ally's poppier noodlings (Lukas worked with Gaga on these) have great hooks and are played with conviction.
And again, the live footage is good.
But...
Well...
Look, let me stress the positives again.
Two fine leads, Gaga is great (I've already backed for for an Oscar nomination) and the live music stuff really captures the vibe and atmosphere of the two different genres.
And Cooper has an eye for a shot. He makes this film look good.
But he's no storyteller. And here in lies the first of the problems.
As good as the music is, the film as a whole feels like a few videos with a loose narrative holding them together.
There are issues with some of the scenes (at least two should have been cut as they have no actual place in the film) and the final quarter should have been thrown into a bin and set on fire.
If you know any of the previous films you'll know what happens, but if you don't I won't spoil it for you here.
Suffice to say Cooper needed a far defter hand, a far lighter touch, than the one he went with.
It's unnecessary and it's where the anger started.
The I got to thinking more about the film, A Star Is Born.
Not, as it should be called, Man Makes It All About Him.
Now, I don't know if I'm being particularly sensitive on this subject given world events — and granted my viewing companion said she didn't really notice ("but then I guess I'm kind of used to that by now") — but it feels less a film about Ally rising to fame and more a film about how this makes Jackson feel.
And, yes, while that may mirror the modern world, and yes there are elements of that in the previous versions, it would have been nice here at the arse end of 2018 if we could have tweaked that a smidge.
As I said, this could be an over-sensitive moment, but it felt more like a showcase for toxic masculinity.
And we get enough of that here in the real world.
And given we were both discussing what light and frothy TV nonsense we could wash our minds with to get rid of the bad taste this film left behind, I suspect I won't be alone in thinking this.
As remakes go, this one doesn't need to exist and doesn't do anything the other three don't already do.
The songs are good, Gaga is good, but it's a mess of a movie with no clear sense of what the focus should be.
Dog's cute though.
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