A Star Is Born (2018) **

They've been making and re-making this movie for over 85 years. It started with a 1932 film called “What Price Hollywood,” about an alcoholic movie star who takes an interest in a pretty waitress, giving her a shot in the movies. Her career rises while he continues to spiral downward. Then came 1937's “A Star is Born,” ripping off the exact same story. This title was re-made in 1954 with Judy Garland. They did it again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, this time making them musicians instead of actors.

This time around, Bradley Cooper directs and plays the central character, an alcoholic rock star named Jackson Maine. Jack has so much talent that even when he can barely stand, he can play a killer set for a packed house. Still, the liquor and pills are clearly taking a toll, as is his chronic tinnitus (ringing in the ears from long-term noise exposure.) Then he meets Ally (Lady Gaga), a waitress with a songwriting talent and a killer voice. Jack falls for Ally and gives her the exposure that makes her a star, but even her love can't keep him away from the pills and the bottle. His downward spiral coincides with her rise.

Ally, meanwhile, starts out as a soulful songwriter, but her new record company turns her into a dancing pop princess without a last name. Jack is bothered by the transformation, and we assume that, on some level, Ally must be as well. She doesn't say much about it, however, and what should be a major story line never gets resolved.

When a movie has been made five times you figure the story must be pretty timeless and compelling. Unfortunately, I found the latest iteration to be boring and half-baked, despite its significant star power. The first act is pretty good, with Jack and Ally getting to know each other and their music. We get treated to a taste of the songwriting process, or at least a movie version of it, and that's fun. Like Jack's health, however, the movie just gets worse as we go. For one thing, it's called “A Star is Born,” but it should have been called “A Star Burns Out.” The main focus is almost always on Jack, and Ally as a character just gets pushed more and more into the background. The songs in this one are apparently much better than in the 1976 version, but I still didn't find the music very compelling. I did like Jack's blues-folk song “Maybe It's Time,” but the feature song, “Shallow,” the one with the Oscar nomination, didn't do it for me. It has a nice melody, but the lyrics are stupid (are they “in the shallow” or “far from the shallow”?) and the repetition of syllables (sha-a-sha-a-llow) is lame.

With a better-written narrative and this cast (including Sam Elliott as Jack's brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally's dad) this could have been a great movie. As it is, running 2 hours 16 minutes, the movie manages to be long and boring, while still leaving out key parts of Ally's story. If it were shorter, a LOT shorter, I'd say watch it when you have nothing better to do, but at this length, I can't even recommend that.

2 stars out of 5