40分的长评 “Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die,” croons Bradley Cooper, cradling his guitar and flashing all the crinkly, crows-footed charm he can muster. “Amen to that,” you may think, watching this rather tired remake of the Hollywood favourite A Star Is Born, which he directs and stars in opposite Lady Gaga. As it turns out, Gaga has chops (and that’s not just a cheap meat-dress reference). The acting isn’t the problem, even if the screen chemistry doesn’t always crackle in this out-of-competition entry. Ally meets Jackson. She’s just a working-class gal with a big voice and a big nose (or so record execs tell her); he’s just a lonely old boozebag with wealth and success but no one to share it with. Will he help her make it on to the big stage? Will she help him get on the wagon? She inspires abstinence but it’s shortlived and his brother (a wonderful Sam Elliott) for one has been here too many times before. The trouble is, so have we. This is the fourth iteration of A Star Is Born, and even if you haven’t seen the previous versions, the formula will be familiar. The X Factor and its ilk have co-opted the narrative of showbiz dreaming spiked with heart-tugging tales of personal adversity and worked it so hard that by now it’s lost much of its sparkle. The hope was that Cooper might have given the set-up a new contemporary twist. Instead, it’s just an unadventurous reboot of an over-familiar tune — exactly the kind of corny cover version The X Factor trades on.