A Star Is Born has some of the biggest buzz so far this Oscar season. Lady Gaga has a strong shot at a Best Actress nomination and Bradley Cooper may get a Best Director nod his first time out of the gate. However, let's not lose sight of the fact that this movie is a good old-fashioned guilty pleasure.
Let's count the ways. (SPOILERS AHEAD)
1) Bradley Cooper in a gay bar
It's just as fun for us the audience to see Bradley Cooper drinking in a gay bar as it is for the patrons in the movie to see Jackson Maine drinking there. Talk about meta! It's a humorous, surreal moment.
2) Gaga getting in a fist fight.
Is this maybe your second favorite fight scene this year? (#1 being the one where every Marvel hero fights Thanos) Who else can turn a bar brawl into a romantic gesture?
3) Gaga pretending she's never sung live before. It's amazing that she can look so vulnerable onstage and stay in character when you know in real life she has done this a million times. The vulnerability she displays in this scene feels so authentic.
4) Getting to fall in love with Gaga
The movie nails that first 24 hours. The parking lot scene, her first time onstage, that exhilaration of new love. We fall in love with her as Bradley Cooper does.
5) The "bromance" between Sam and Bradley
Sam Elliott has quietly been doing amazing work in movies like Grandma, The Last Dinosaur, and I'll See You In My Dreams over the past several years. Now that he's in a movie getting a lot of buzz, maybe he'll get his Best Supporting Actor nomination. He's the tough love brother who never got to be in the spotlight. He's perfect in every scene. Try not to tear up during their last scene together.
6) All the sappy songs
I have had "Maybe it's time to let the old ways die x 2/It takes a lot to change a man/ Hell, it takes a lot to try..." stuck in my head since before the damn movie opened.
7) It's a tear jerker.
The movie isn't afraid to pull on your heartstrings and have you reaching for the tissues. Alcoholism, sibling rivalry, love gone bad, and suicide are all part of the feel-bad mix that feels a little bit good.