I am a big fan of the James Mason/Judy Garland version (I've never seen the original or the film these movies were based off of). This is an interesting take and I wanted to post this here because I am really curious about the opening sequence, this is the spoiler edition movie talk area, but I will black it out just in case the meeting scene between Jackson
and Ally, is that meant to be a sort-of Brokeback Mountain moment? The scene is set in a drag queen event, and her makeup is meant to give her the appearance of a drag queen, if Ally had been a man would Jack have still felt the same? Especially given the machismo wrapped up in cowboy musicians and the hard drinking man's man Jackson seems to portray, I found it extraordinarily interesting in that moment (even taking into account Judy Garland's iconic ties to the LGBTQ scene). It seems that it would be a different movie, or maybe not?
The film itself is fun to watch, though I felt there were lots of weird pauses where a song would start, we get a musical, then stop and no not a musical. Musicals in general are long and I wonder if it was meant to tell this story and make it much shorter, but how much more fun would it have been if we let Lady Gaga sing to us for most of the film.
There were lots of moments in this film, but I am not sure that makes it a good movie and certainly there are problems with characters like Sam Elliott (who is great), but the relationship seems too cowboy-edgy to be realistic. Dave Chappelle is also great, but the lets get married right now in my cousins church scene pushes the boundaries of believable, why not just let Dave be the preacher and do it in the backyard? It is a romantic film and it is really nice to look at, the visuals and technical aspects are really well done. And our ending it is what it is, an alcoholic/addict will always break your heart, but I was hoping maybe there might be room for a more modern take on that...which of course could lead us into another topic of debate, was Jackson unbelievably selfish or was it true love? And why can't there be room for both without going the route that character always goes? Though the ending is probably the most realistic part of the film.
More songs imo, but very enjoyable.