While this is ostensibly a portrait of one of the great artists of the 20th Century, its most fascinating note is its revelation of Bradley Cooper as a director who, like his subject, won’t settle for the ordinary.
David Fincher’s ice-cold kind of comedy is admirable, and a good exercise for the analytical. But what I couldn’t figure out is why all of this didn’t add up to something more fun.
This is a movie with a clear goal. It aims to be inspirational, a crowd pleaser. And, for the most part, it succeeds. But it also glides past a few, more subtle or complicated things, moments which might have made this movie the stand up and cheer hit it wants to be.