After the success of “brat” (2024), Charli XCX has found herself more inspired by movies than music. With a long lineup of acting roles on the horizon, “The Moment” is a fitting — if imperfect — start to her pivot from popstar to movie star, allowing her creativity to continue to shine.
Based on her original idea, “The Moment” is a mockumentary that meets somewhere in the middle ground between “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984) and “Spice World” (1997). Charli XCX stars as a caricaturized version of herself, struggling with the pressures of newfound level of fame and the forces of money-hungry executives. While Charli doesn’t miss a beat transitioning from singer to actress, “The Moment” as a whole is not as seamless.
It is an impressive acting debut from Charli, who pulls off the more selfish and volatile version of herself surprisingly well, and a solid feature debut from director Aidan Zamiri (a previous collaborator with Charli on music videos “360” and “Guess featuring billie eilish”), but the pair’s cinematic naivety is inescapable.
The film begins firing on all cylinders with a pulsating, overwhelming montage of red, green and blue strobes, a montage about the rise of “brat” — with cameos from online music critic Anthony Fantano and The Swiftologist — interspliced with Charli herself performing a sprawling dance, before collapsing in exhaustion. “The Moment” keeps this energy high as we follow Charli to a club night, and through various different promotions and brand deal events, including a Vogue shoot and the launch of the Howard Stirling “brat” card.
Almost unbeknownst to Charli, however, is the appointment of Johannes Godwin (Aleksander Skarsgård) as the director of an Amazon-backed concert film of the “brat” tour — instead organized by the agents and label execs who keep asking, “How do we keep this ‘brat’ thing going?”
Johannes quickly proves himself overbearing and deeply misaligned with Charli’s vision, her creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) and the overall ethos of “brat.”
“The Moment’s” dry sense of humor rarely fails. Some scenes would feel right at home in something like The Office (U.K.) for its equally cringeworthy laughs. Charli’s keen finger on the cultural pulse pays off once again, with attacks and critiques of the contemporary music industry’s capitalistic nature landing quite well.
But what starts as a stylish distillation of Charli XCX’s recent rise to fame and pop artist persona stagnates after the halfway mark: re-hashing themes and re-hitting notes as the push-and-pull dynamic between selling out versus not selling out grows tiresome.
The majority of the film’s cast deliver performances well in tune with “The Moment’s” mercurial spirit. Charli’s entourage of agents and assistants (brought to life by Jamie Demetriou, Isaac Powell and Trew Mullen) are always worth a laugh as they erratically scramble, tiptoe and work around the star. Rosanna Arquette additionally brings a great edge to the film with her forceful presence as the Atlantic Records higher-up.
Skarsgård, however, shines the brightest. He strikes a perfect balance between just unlikable and downright sinister, making a great villain that still adds to the film’s wry sense of humor.
Still, audiences may question the necessity of Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner’s cameo scenes beyond a marketing standpoint. The former appears at a club early on in the film, and the latter at a wellness spa in Ibiza; the two essentially play different sides of the same very passive-aggressive coin.
Though it's unlikely to break beyond Charli’s own fanbase like “brat” did, viewers can’t help but admire how big a swing it is, as Charli once again proves herself to be a brave voice in a risk-averse entertainment industry.
“The Moment” is in theaters now.
This article was edited by Mina O’Dell, Jessica Ackerman and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve, Jaden Maitland Anderson and Ava Stuzin.
