In the Sundance Film Festival\u2019s hottest ticket, \u201cThe Moment,\u201d Charli xcx takes on the daunting role of\u2026 Charli xcx.<\/b>
\nWith a snap of the fingers, Charli xcx has gone from pop star to Richard Kind.
The \u201cbrat\u201d singer is suddenly ubiquitous at the movies, appearing in a whopping three at this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival alone. Lazy Olivia Colman managed just one.
Two of those roles are supporting. She\u2019s a member of the Art Basel scene in \u201cThe Gallerist\u201d with Natalie Portman, and Cooper Hoffman\u2019s icy, prudish girlfriend in the filthy \u201cI Want Your Sex.\u201d
But in the festival\u2019s hottest ticket, \u201cThe Moment,\u201d Charli xcx gets top billing as she takes on the daunting role of\u2026 Charli xcx.
The Brit plays a fictional version of herself in the fake documentary about the tail end of the \u201cbrat\u201d tour of summer 2024. She\u2019s basically a songstress on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
If the words \u201cI\u2019m so Julia\u201d mean nothing to you, from the start you\u2019ll be singing a different Charli tune: \u201cI Don\u2019t Care!\u201d
If you like Charli xcx\u2019s songs and find her to be a unique and uncompromising presence in the often airbrushed world of pop, you\u2019ll appreciate moments of \u201cThe Moment.\u201d
But that\u2019s it. This is not a fully formed movie. At best, it\u2019s a moderately intriguing pitch.
Much like transitioning from musician to movie star, director Aidan Zamiri\u2019s disjointed film, which premiered Friday, depicts the challenges and absurdities of a connoisseur\u2019s dance musician turning into a global superstar overnight.
All the usual showbiz satire elements pop up: The sycophants, leeches and soulless execs pushing her to sacrifice art for money.
\u201cHow do we keep this \u2018brat\u2019 thing going?,\u201d dismissively asks a suit named Tammy played by Rosanna Arquette.
The more pressing question faced by writer-director Zamiri is: How do I keep this rather thin premise going?
The main thrust of the plot is that, with only a month till her final \u201cbrat\u201d concert in London, Charli\u2019s label hires an eccentric jackass of a director named Johannes (Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd) to film it for Amazon.
But he\u2019s a self-absorbed hack who wants to shift her grungy nightclub vibe into a colorful, girl-power, pyrotechnic Taylor Swift-type show for clicks. A k a, not so brat.
Skarsg\u00e5rd, speaking of ubiquity, aims for the humor and misses as Johannes vies for creative control with Charli\u2019s friend and collaborator Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates). Their extended tussle gets yawns.
Charli, meanwhile, goes through familiar fame rigmarole: Coke-fueled parties with celeb friends, Vogue photoshoots, late-night TV interviews and a spontaneous trip to Ibiza where she has a run-in with Kyle Jenner.
Same old, same old. And yet these commonplace limelight tropes add up to bewilderment.
In trying to be too many things \u2014 a pulsing music video, mockumentary, psychological drama, an insider\u2019s peek at the industry and a half-baked Capitalism critique \u2014 \u201cThe Moment\u201d winds up reminiscent of its main character: sleep-deprived, unfocused and confused.
The movie is best during throwaway funny bits. Charli\u2019s quirky traveling team brings to mind \u201cThe Office\u201d and Dunder Mifflin. There\u2019s her nosy makeup technician Molly (Kate Berlant), eye-rolling social-media guy Lloyd (Isaac Powell) and bumbling manager Tim (Jamie Demetriou). They\u2019re all fab.
It\u2019s especially hilarious when they attempt to convince the star to endorse a \u201cbrat\u201d-themed credit card \u201cfor young queer people.\u201d
However, humorous though it very occasionally is, comparisons to \u201cThis is Spinal Tap\u201d or \u201cA Mighty Wind\u201d don\u2019t really work because Charli herself isn\u2019t sent up much.
She collapses under enormous pressure and endures a serious identity crisis. At her worst, while she\u2019s hiding out in Ibiza, a stressed Charli crushes a wine glass in her hand and scrubs the blood off in the sink like Lady Macbrat. Don\u2019t remember that part in \u201cBest in Show.\u201d
The jokes taper off midway through \u2014 Zamiri comes from the world of music videos, not dry comedy \u2014 and by the end it\u2019s neither silly nor affecting.
The climax, by the way, in which Carli\u2019s canceled for a social-media snafu that actually brings down a bank, is a mess of messes.
So, does this week portend a permanent switch to acting for Charli xcx? Maybe. She\u2019s appealing, natural and undoubtedly distinctive here. Of course, she\u2019s playing Charli xcx.
As far as her freshman foray into movies goes, though, I\u2019m afraid \u201cThe Moment\u201d is not her moment.<\/p>\n