If you’re anything like us you’ve poured over every single review that’s been written about Lady Gaga’s major film acting debut in A Star Is Born.
And if that’s the case, you’ll know that this remake from Bradley Cooper is spectacular, emotional and an absolute triumph. We’re happy to confirm that all of the five-star reviews and unanimous praise is completely justified. Having seen it once, we’ve already booked in for at least another two viewings.
So instead of repeating what countless other people have written about A Star Is Born, we decided to pull out five things about the film that Lady Gaga’s loyal LGBTQ fans will love.
Mother Monster delivers the performance of her career.
Throughout the decade since Lady Gaga first rose to international superstardom, we’ve seen the New Yorker deliver countless show-stopping performances. A queen of theatrics, outlandish costumes, and some incredibly good pop music, she’s proven herself a true entertainer.
A Star Is Born, however, sees Gaga deliver a performance unlike anything in her career so far. Gone is the persona, and in comes a stripped back Ally, plucked from obscurity by country-rock idol Jackson Maine.
As Ally, Gaga delivers a performance that sees her flit between everyday girl struggling to get her music career off the ground, through to devoted lover, and eventually a woman dealing with the intense pressures of fame.
There are moments where Gaga channels self-doubt, vulnerability, and excitement all wrapped into a subtle performance that brings Ally to life. We were concerned that Gaga’s profile was too big for us to forget that A Star Is Born is actually Ally’s story, but believe us when we say that Gaga has the acting chops to draw you into the fictional singer-songwriter’s world from the get go.
Start your engines…
Like us, Lady Gaga is a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, so it was no surprise that when the film needed some drag queens to play her drag mothers in a pivotal bar scene that she personally called upon two of the show’s biggest names.
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Shangela and Willam are scene-stealers in their appearances with both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, injecting plenty of sassy one-liners that instantly draw laughs from the audience.
They both have way much more screen time than we were expecting from them, which gave us a real sense of pride watching as fans. Two Drag Race queens in supporting roles in what could potentially be an Academy Award-winning film is exactly what we wanted from #20GayTeen. Haleloo.
Lady Gaga serves some proper pop.
When the first trailer for a A Star Is Born premiered earlier this year, it featured the soundtrack’s lead single Shallow. While the rock-tinged track is certainly one of the film’s standouts and will likely perform very well on the chart, we could sense Little Monsters out there hoping for a bit of classic Gaga pop too.
Well you’re all in luck as there are a handful of handbag bangers that play throughout the film. We’re talking more along the lines of Gaga’s one-off release The Cure mixed with alt-pop influences.
There’s even a scene where Ally delivers a fully choreographed, hair-flipping, Gaga-grinding performance on Saturday Night Live. We can’t wait to see it again to learn the routine in full.
We love a transformation…
If there’s one sequence we can’t resist when it comes to a big-screen rags to riches story, it’s the part when the character has a makeover. When Ally finally starts to breakthrough as a pop star (that’s not a spoiler, the clue is in the title of the film), she has a transformation that we’ve never seen Gaga do herself: she goes ginger.
Warner Bros.
Pop star Ally transforms into a disco queen with sequinned costumes, fierce heels, and a new superstar attitude to boot. She doesn’t lose the essence of who she really is (which is refreshing for this type of story), but there is resistance when certain changes to her looks are suggested.
In what is obviously a nod to her own career as Gaga, Ally tells her manager that she is under no circumstances dying her hair blonde. It’s those little references that will have Little Monsters everywhere trying to decipher what parts of Ally’s story could have potentially been inspired by the real-life tales of Stefani Germanotta.
The grand finale.
When it comes to the conclusion of A Star Is Born there is possibly one of the most emotionally-charged finales we’ve seen in cinema this year. We’re not going to spoil it obviously, but we are going to discuss the ballad that accompanies it.
Gaga gives one of the best vocal performances of her discography in this rousing ballad, which echoes the very best of 90s era Whitney and Mariah. If you’re not all trying to master the vocals of this one in a drunken karaoke session this Christmas, then we’ll eat our wig.
A Star Is Born is in cinemas in the UK on 3 October, and in the US on 5 October. The official soundtrack will be released on 5 October.
Watch the trailer for A Star Is Born below:
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