I don’t know enough about the music of Charlotte Aitchison a.k.a. Charli xcx to call myself a fan, though I’ve tended to admire the British pop star’s singing when I’ve run across it. I started out actively hating her movie The Moment when I was under the impression that it was a straight documentary. When I realized it was a mockumentary, my hatred subsided into an understanding of what it was trying and mostly failing to do. It’s still a better movie than Rob Reiner’s Spinal Tap sequel from last fall, or The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow from last summer. If that strikes you as damning with faint praise, come along with me for the damnation.
Charli portrays herself in the fall of 2024. Following the success of her Brat album, the executives at Atlantic Records are frantically trying to extend the “Brat Girl Summer” as the weather turns. To that end, they cut a sponsorship deal with a stuffy British bank to issue a Brat-themed credit card to young gay customers. As Charli points out, how does the bank know their customers are gay? Do the cardholders have to prove their gayness somehow?
A bigger deal is that the label hires a well-known documentarian named Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård) to chronicle her upcoming world tour. He’s the most fully realized character in the movie, a diva who runs roughshod over Charli’s longtime friend and creative director Celeste (Hailey Gates). He schemes with the label to get her fired from the tour, all the while proclaiming how much he respects her, and he plays the part of a humble hired hand while making wholesale changes to Charli’s choreography, setlist, and staging. When Charli goes missing, he’s ecstatic at the prospect of her dying because he has visions of something like the Amy Winehouse documentary dancing in his head.
He transcends the movie. It makes no sense that Charli would be swayed over to Johannes’ side by a speech from Kylie Jenner (who portrays herself). The material isn’t funny. Charli herself isn’t funny. Johannes’ bombastic stage designs aren’t funny. The execution by director/co-writer Aidan Zamiri is botched. When Charli accidentally causes a global financial panic by promising her fans free concert tickets if they sign up for her credit card, it’s much better on the page than it is on the screen. Even a cameo by Rachel Sennott (portraying herself as a queerbaiting cocaine addict) falls flat. The most unbelievable misstep is the filmmakers failing to include more of Charli’s music, which is why we’re interested in her to begin with.
Credit Charli with conceiving the idea for the film and her willingness to try something new with the form, as well as her willingness to play herself unflatteringly. (She does reasonably well in a monologue where she goes crawling back to Celeste and admits to being a bad friend.) It’s enough to make The Moment an interesting failure rather than complete trash. It would have worked better at deflating the pop-star mystique around her if it had just been funnier.
The Moment
Starring Charli xcx and Alexander Skarsgård. Directed by Aidan Zamiri. Written by Aidan Zamiri and Bertie Brandes. Rated R.
