It’s rare for an actor/director/screenwriter to become so enthrall with his or her creation that they get their hand stuck in the cookie jar of their own movie.
Such is the sad case for Bradley Cooper, whose deep impersonation of Leonard Bernstein obliterates everything around it, including Carey Mulligan’s exquisite portrayal of Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein
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Bradley Cooper’s insistence on giving his historic character the stuffed-up voice of man with a constant cold, wears out the viewer early on.
A lack of narrative focus exposes Bernstein’s outrageous narcissism. The result leaves the viewer to wonder why we should give two cents about Leonard Bernstein as anything other than an abuser of everyone he came into contact with.
What a monster of a human being.
Perhaps there’s room for a gay #MeToo movement.
Here is a film that needed a serious rewrite, much tighter editing, and direction by a filmmaker other than Bradley Cooper.
At least “Maestro” is an easy movie to forget.
Rated R. 129 mins.
