Aaron's Thoughts
Not sure that Bradley Cooper is capable of making a bad movie. 3/3 in my book.
Certainly the least ambitious of the three, but I kind of liked that about it. It’s nice seeing him not try so hard with every shot. Sure, you still get moments of him breaking form - there is a really cool transition at one point where Arnett is walking in his house and then onto the stage. Plus a cool shot where the camera is positioned as candles on a birthday cake as some kids blow them out.
Kind of fun to watch him remind us that he still has these tricks up his sleeves. It was just nice for it to not feel as forced as it did in Maestro (which I will still defend until the day I die).
As much as I liked, the handheld camera thing & constant closeups got a bit old pretty quick & eventually even a bit nauseating? And while I think the screenplay is genuinely excellent, I’m not sure that we see its full cinematic potential with how Cooper decides to bring it to life. Two scenes in particular are up there for the best of the year (THAT standup scene & the bedroom scene towards the end), but the rest feel somewhat forgettable.
Still better than 90% movies that are made. Oh and Laura Dern is excellent. What else is new?
Interested to see how it plays with general audiences & to see it again myself.
