“On vacay, having my brat summer.” “OMG, that’s so brat.” “You think that’s brat, but that means it’s so NOT brat.” Since 2024 I I had to hear about the various brat summers going on around me; I couldn’t escape Charli XCX even if I wanted to try. The Moment shows that that level of pop omnipotence affected everyone, especially Charli herself…maybe most so, to the point that maybe she, dare I say, it, was no longer brat?
The Moment starts at, what Charli feels like is the end of the moment. Brat has hit that juggernaut status that everyone wants in on it’s power. By everyone I mean money and Charlie’s time. A bank wants to start handing out brat credit cards. And it’s time for Charli to make the music documentary about brat life. Despite the warnings of her creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates), label head Tammy Pitman (Rosanna Arquette) brings in music video/doc director Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgard) to keep the brat moment going, making it transcend even more than it already has.
The Moment so badly wants to be a Christopher Guest or a Spinal Tap for a new generation. When it’s humming it does get there, usually when Alexander Skarsgard is around. Charli XCX prepped all her reaction shots for all the hubris driven psychosis of the powerful uncreative people around her insisting they’ve got the right vision for brat. It’s so deeply horrible and uncomfortable stunned silence and an appalled face is the only reaction you can have. Trying to explain to Charli that her brat bank card is catering to an LGBT crowd, then being stifled when Charli asks how they know the person is gay/lesbian, etc, is a brilliant evisceration of “corporate synergy.” Props to Charli for including herself in this takedown, pointing out repeatedly that this level of fame has completely messed up her priorities, making her ripe for some very funny sojourns to Ibiza MAHA healers and therapy speak used as weapons.
But even Spinal Tap had to get serious for little bits for the story to work. In The Moment, Charli takes on a tone of “just kidding, *wink*….but not really” that makes you question your sanity by an hour in. It’s probably honest: Charli doesn’t know herself how she feels about brat eventually coming to its end. However, it makes for a bit of a confusing watch, as the pop star uses densely written monologues to cover up The Moment’s story shortcomings. And what is written is much hollower that I was expecting it to be, letting the air out of the balloon just a little. It’s not all bad though: a linchpin in the emotional arc of the movie relies on Kylie Jenner, and it…works somehow, to the surprise of me and most of my theater. And we get some insights into the transition from a small fun pop act into a mega sensation, and all the complications and chaos that ensue from that.
At least when The Moment ends, we know the moment is over. Charli knows it too, clearly saying goodbye to the best time of her life, transitioning into something new letting go. One thing I will not be letting go of…casting Alexander Skarsgard as an eccentric Scandinavian. That’s a card I didn’t know he had in the deck, but can’t wait to see what else he does with it.