Rehab janitor as sponsor; the husband's motives; Bo's feelings for Chiles; Bo's two-timing; Texas tour economics; Kelly left alone; tame implied sex; sleeping in jewelry; shared bed
Pulled forward from picking nits: Kelly lands in rehab with a country prodigy who is a janitor and sponsor; with a large tour staff they could have brought a legitimate sponsor, since he is on stage whenever she falls apart. — Bill Simmons
Did Bo like Chiles? The answer from a viewing companion (Craig) was yes, but it is confusing and the real-love-story ending was surprising. — Bill Simmons
Counterpoint: Chiles is 22, good-looking and can sing, so why is a rehab janitor repulsed; reply: romantic comedies require initial dislike, and the outlaw cannot like the pageant queen.
She is not made unlikable enough in the first 20 minutes to sustain his dislike, another reason it is a flawed rewatchable. — Amanda Dobbins
Bo's character is the problem: an irresponsible sponsor who two-times Kelly and Chiles, presumably sleeping with Kelly and then meeting Chiles the same night.
A three-city Texas tour of Houston, Austin and Dallas, with small venues in the first two and a giant set, does not seem economically feasible. — Amanda Dobbins
Kelly, who needs constant care and daily pills, is left alone constantly: she gets drunk in town, kisses Bo in her dressing room and sleeps with JJ on the tour bus she shares with her husband. — Liz Kelly
The hookups should be randier; the movie goes 80% of the way, with implied sex that fits Ebert's 1957 point, but in 2010 it needed sex scenes.
Kelly sleeps in all her jewelry, including a diamond tennis necklace and cross, and wears a fur-trimmed coat throughout; her husband should unhook the necklace at night.
Why are Kelly and her husband sleeping in the same bed at that point in their marriage? When she makes a move he says he took an Ambien.
Garrett Hedlund: this should have been his apex with Tron and Country Strong but it did not happen; his apex was probably 2004 and this was his lost Apex Mountain. — Bill Simmons
Hedlund's karaoke audition and country training; Paltrow emailing Robert Downey Jr.; Hedlund and McGraw's Friday Night Lights history; Hedlund crying off-camera; Paltrow losing Kelly Taylor to Jennie Garth; Paltrow turning down The Ring; Paltrow learning guitar; Meester's mother's prison birth
The director said he took four months off, learned guitar, took voice lessons and went to Nashville early to work with producers. — Bill Simmons
Paltrow emailed her Iron Man castmate Robert Downey Jr. to understand addiction and rehab, and he wrote back an amazing email; some would find that pretentious. — Bill Simmons
The director said that in the Dallas goodbye scene, shot on Gwyneth's side first with the camera on the back of Garrett's head, Garrett cried for her performance. — Bill Simmons
Paltrow lost the Kelly Taylor role on 90210 to Jennie Garth. — Bill Simmons
She would have been an amazing Kelly Taylor, though she probably would have left after about four seasons. — Bill Simmons
She turned down The Ring in 2002; her filmography lacks a good horror movie about a house with something wrong with it. — Bill Simmons
Paltrow learned guitar from scratch over several months, and Chris Martin told her she played better than U2's frontman, though her playing in the movie is not great. — Liz Kelly
Leighton Meester's real mother gave birth to her as a prison inmate, and her character's mother is also in prison. — Liz Kelly
Going off the board: create a new character, a successful generational rival for Kelly, seen in one or two scenes being condescendingly friendly, played by a famous country star or actress; this would solve the Dion Waiters Award and the recasting couch. — Bill Simmons
Objection: Leighton Meester is already the rival; reply: she is the younger rival, while this is the rival from Kelly's own generation. — Bill Simmons
Support: the rival must be successful and really mean, e.g. apologizing for not reaching out after the baby died but saying they were praying for her.
In rehab Kelly takes in a baby bird whose mother never came, and keeps it in a tiny lidded box in total darkness with sawdust, cruel for someone with her resources. — Liz Kelly
The bird is passed around: Tim McGraw carries it into a loud honky-tonk bar while scouting, with Bo pointing out it seems hungry, and it is thrashed around in the car. — Liz Kelly
How long can a tiny bird survive in a box? The speaker is no bird expert and is afraid of birds. — Liz Kelly
Gwyneth occasionally pops the box open, gives two pets and pushes it back, when birds need warmth and more to survive. — Liz Kelly
The bird is treated like a pet young kids lose interest in within three minutes; the bird gets the Dion Waiters award. — Bill Simmons
Pick: the creepy tour manager Kelly was sleeping with when Garrett Hedlund walks in; the picker does not know his name but has seen him in other things. — Liz Kelly
Question about the category: prepped by the show's producer, the asker first wrote down Tim McGraw and was told that is not a that guy; the reply is that he is Tim McGraw. — Liz Kelly
This is a hard movie for side-character categories because it is dominated by four people. — Amanda Dobbins
Tim McGraw's underwritten husband; dismissal of Chiles's pop crossover; no social media for Kelly's drunk bar performance; Bo's disheveled oversized clothes; dry-bar barrel-curl hair and 2010 styling; the reviews
The movie is dismissive of the Leighton Meester character going outside country music to find success, which is dead wrong about how the last ten years worked. — Bill Simmons
Tim McGraw is given little to work with: an unlikable character with confusing motivation, 100% responsible for his wife's death. — Amanda Dobbins
The character needed more on stage as a former star, or a recast; there is little chemistry and it is hard to believe they were married. — Amanda Dobbins
Dissent: one host bought the marriage and says they watch the whole movie with rose-colored lenses. — Amanda Dobbins
He flirts with Meester and visits her hotel room, though he is not cheating on Kelly, who sleeps with others including her tour manager. — Liz Kelly
Alternative fixes: make him cartoonishly evil like the Shawshank warden, or a former country star who lost his voice and sings with her near the end; the Star Is Born formula works. — Bill Simmons
No social media for Kelly's drunk bar performance, though there were cell phones in 2010. — Bill Simmons
A proposal to make Kelly 25% drunker and meaner is contested since she already hits Tim McGraw; others agree the movie keeps the safety rails on, e.g. her tour-manager hookup stays clothed. — Bill Simmons
The speaker's wife's note: Bo's disheveled oversized clothes.
Contender: the dry-bar hair of side part, straightened bangs and big barrel curls, which the speaker wore to every dance for the next six years. — Liz Kelly
The hair is of the dry-bar moment and also a country-music aesthetic of tall blonde women such as Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill. — Amanda Dobbins
Gwyneth goes from straight hair to full barrel curls within two minutes, a two-hour process; tiny bandage dresses, peplum and heavy under-eye liner are circa 2010. — Amanda Dobbins
The reviews: a Guardian quote mocks Paltrow singing her own material in a self-indulgent movie, and a New York Times quote finds her seriously miscast as an unreformed alcoholic with a thin, serviceable voice. — Bill Simmons
A Hollywood Reporter quote: cliches plucked from country lyrics fuel an unconvincing show-business story that is hard to synopsize. — Bill Simmons
A Boston Globe quote: the film ends nine times, and Festi mistook her protagonist for Lindsay Lohan or Courtney Love; its writer, Wesley Morris, has since warmed to the movie. — Bill Simmons
Unraveling-star comeback premise; "Kelly Canter and Jesus Christ" line; Gwyneth crying while talking; Kelly's death set to "Timing Is Everything"; fan's rock-bottom line; country music's celebrity crossover; Tim McGraw's side-stage face
Pre-listed for aged best: stars get a finite number of chances to win back the public; Britney Spears had a limited comeback tour after her 2007 breakdown, and in 2020 it keeps happening, e.g. Demi Lovato. — Liz Kelly
The Britney Spears-type premise of an unraveling star whose team pushes her to stay famous. — Bill Simmons
The line "Who's your idol? Kelly Canter and Jesus Christ," delivered by Meester. — Bill Simmons
The speaker's wife's pick: nobody is better than Gwyneth at crying and talking at the same time; the other example offered was The Talented Mr. Ripley. — Bill Simmons
Kelly's death easing into the "Timing Is Everything" song with the hospital scene really works. — Bill Simmons
A fan interviewed before the Dallas concert says she has hit rock bottom and sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to realize what you have, an idea never explored again. — Bill Simmons
Country music's crossover with celebrity has aged well: Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, country artists hanging out with the Kardashians and treated as general celebrities, Stagecoach and Bachelor Nation; Taylor Swift paved the way starting in 2010. — Liz Kelly
Tim McGraw's side-of-stage "so psyched she's killing it" half-smile face; he has one face in this movie. — Bill Simmons
First nominee: Kelly's first scene, workshopping "Timing Is Everything" with the sponsor; A Star Is Born may have borrowed the device of two people workshopping a song. — Bill Simmons
Asterisk on the sponsor: he is technically the janitor at the rehab facility, which raises HIPAA and rehab questions. — Amanda Dobbins
That scene establishes that Kelly is damaged but really talented, with a real connection to Bo, before Tim McGraw walks in with a suspicious look. — Bill Simmons
Nominee: Bo saves Chiles from bombing on stage by coming in with a guitar; he sounds great though not miked, but it is unclear whether he likes her. — Bill Simmons
Scenes where performers bomb on stage and nobody saves them are excruciating, and singing is awkward unless done really well, so the rescue is welcome. — Amanda Dobbins
Songs are played at length, making "Friends in Low Places" a sing-along and one of the movie's only happy moments.
Nominee: the on-stage duet between Bo and Chiles; every rewatchable scene involves a song, so the movie can be watched like a concert video, with songs better than usual for movies.
Not a single Star Is Born song comes to mind, while the Country Strong songs are still remembered after ten years; "Shallow" is offered as the famous one. — Liz Kelly
Actually singing rather than lip-syncing is a huge advantage; the Oscar for the Queen movie is criticized because its lead lip-synced, and a case for Val Kilmer in The Doors is disputed. — Bill Simmons
Nominee: Kelly's charity visit where she sings the new song "Travis"; called her Oscar scene, the scene that shows it is not a bad movie, with the cut to Tim McGraw showing she will never recover from losing the baby.
The Travis scene makes the speaker cry every time and is called a favorite; the child playing Travis is praised and it is the best expression of that plot line. — Amanda Dobbins
Nominee: backstage at the Dallas concert Kelly gives Chiles a list of advice, including never wearing satin on stage, avoiding laxatives and carbonated drinks on show days, wearing high heels, not worrying about writing her own songs, and never hiding anything from fans. — Bill Simmons
The advice scene is one of the only real interactions between the two women; it pays off their drunk van conversation where the younger singer asks if they are friends, and the reply from Kelly is no. — Liz Kelly
Nominee: Kelly's Dallas concert, framed as an older alcoholic Taylor Swift comeback; she says the title and raises her arm over her head like Taylor Swift's concert dancing. — Amanda Dobbins
Kelly's final-concert ponytail and curls look genuinely like Taylor Swift; Taylor was invited on the podcast and did not respond.
Nominee: the ending, when Bo brings Chiles on stage for a duet.
Final pick: Kelly finally on stage in Dallas doing the three-song set and saying "Country Strong," for its pure star power.
Final pick: the Travis scene, one of the few moments of joy in a very dark movie. — Liz Kelly
Final pick: the Travis scene as well; the speaker's wife, who watches the movie often, likes the near-end slow dance between Gwyneth and Tim McGraw among sick kids, where she drops Travis quickly. — Bill Simmons
