I’m a huge Bradley Cooper fan. I won’t go through all the films he’s done great work in, but of the more recent ones – I loved what he did with his remake of “A Star is Born;” and I thought his performance in “Nightmare Alley” was underrated. Yet, I was perplexed when I had heard years ago that Jake Gyllenhaal was trying to get a movie made on composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein’s kids turned him down but gave the rights to Cooper. Now, I don’t mind that a Jewish actor was turned down for a non-Jewish actor to play the role. Actress/comedian Sarah Silverman has long had a problem with what she calls “Jew face” – in which non-Jewish actors are cast, when they’re really Italian. Well Cooper solved that problem. Instead of having to deal with the Silverman backlash, he hired her. She plays his sister. Except…Cooper felt the need to wear a big, fake prosthetic nose. This caused a month-long fight between my wife and I. She said two of Bernstein’s kids are fine with it, so I should be. Well, one of his other kids said what I feel – that Cooper already had a decent size nose, so why make it bigger, even if it makes him look a little more like Bernstein? First of all, most younger people won’t even know what Bernstein looks like (I proved that fact to my wife by asking various people 40-years-old and younger, and none of them knew what he looked like). Second, I don’t believe when an actor is portraying someone, they have to look exactly like them. I remember when Anthony Hopkins was playing Richard Nixon. Hopkins looked nothing like him, but five minutes into the movie, you’re not even thinking about it. Yet five minutes into this movie, I was thinking about the nose actually being a bit more of a distraction (although I won’t deny – Cooper looked a helluva lot like Bernstein). I just remember as a teenager, thinking how horrible it was that Lou Diamond Phillips had to take heat for playing a Mexican in “La Bamba” (he’s Filipino). I think anybody should be able to play anybody, no matter what your race (as long as you’re not going blackface, although when Robert Downey, Jr. did that for “Tropic Thunder” he got an Oscar nomination).
Another thing that bothered me about the decisions Cooper made was this. He supposedly spent six years learning how to conduct. First of all, is that really necessary to swing a baton in front of an orchestra? Second, if he’s going to put that much time and energy into his Oscar-bait film, why not show more of the genius that was that composer? Instead more time is spent with his gay affairs. In fact, “West Side Story” was barely mentioned; which reminds me, it was utterly ridiculous to play the music from that film during a scene when Bernstein is driving home. It didn’t fit at all (yes, I understand…a different type of fight was about to transpire). I get what Cooper was doing – using Bernstein’s own music to score a film about him. It’s just that a few of the scenes didn’t work while doing that. A number of things in this picture didn’t work.
My wife and I both liked the decision Cooper made to feature so much of the relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). And the third act of this movie, dealing with her illness, was incredible to watch and rather powerful. Yet I kept wondering when we’d see this man’s genius. We got a movie about a conductor last year (the terrific “Tar”), and that showed us her gay side, her difficult side, and also her genius (although it’s probably easier to do that with a fictional character).
When the movie starts, the camera work and dialogue (also having it filmed in black-and-white), makes the viewer feel like they’re watching a film from the ‘40s. My wife and I felt that was corny and disjointed. It was a bit contrived and made it all have a fake vibe; but like “The Wizard of Oz” the movie will go into color and become more of a normal narrative. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique has imagery that’s absolutely stunning throughout.
Watching Felicia grow more and more frustrated with Bernstein’s affairs is interesting. She’s rather quiet early on, and even when she does call him on it, it’s more about his lack of discretion. We also realize, on some level, this has to hurt her. Even if she’s come to grips with the fact that he’s gay. She put aside her career as an actress (who was already a hit on Broadway), and is hardly getting any love and affection from him. She’s been relegated to taking care of the kids, his schedule, and often not getting to even spend time with him. Both Mulligan and Cooper deserve Oscar nominations for their performances.
Matt Bomer was good in a small role, as was nepo baby Maya Hawke as the oldest Bernstein daughter.
Overall, this just felt like a vanity project from Bradley Cooper, and he and co-writer Josh Singer needed to make a more interesting story that showed us a bit more of the creative side of Bernstein.
My wife liked the movie a lot more than I did. I can only give it 2 stars out of 5.