If you could centre a mockumentary around any contemporary pop star, Charli XCX would probably appear top of the list. The architect of ‘Brat Summer‘ has a keen sense of irony, an acute understanding of the pop star machine and a pretty unique career trajectory – while her brilliant 2024 album ‘Brat’ gave her Main Pop Girl status, it came after 15 years of game-changing and sometimes chaotic creativity in which she carved out her own lane between cult appeal and the mainstream. Charli (baby) just gets it.
Directed and co-written by Aidan Zamiri, who’s made music videos for XCX, PinkPantheress and FKA Twigs – and also helped to devise Timothée Chalamet’s deliciously deranged Marty Supreme press tour – The Moment has a sharp premise. Having finally gatecrashed the mainstream (or rather, seen it catch up with her), XCX faces a career-defining dilemma: does she squeeze every last drop out of ‘Brat Summer’ to keep herself relevant or follow her fast-moving muse and move onto something new? Her distracted manager Tim (Jamie Demetriou) is no help whatsoever, while her talented creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) is a voice of reason that no one listens to.
Naturally, her unflappable label boss Tammy Pitman (Rosanna Arquette) and various bumbling underlings are keen to make hay while the sun shines, so they hire hotshot but possibly problematic director Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård) to shoot a glossy ‘Brat’ concert film. They also hatch a deal for XCX to front a ‘Brat’ green credit card for the fictional bank Howard Stirling. It’s being cynically marketed at XCX’s sizeable queer fanbase, which prompts the singer to ask whether “you have to prove that you’re gay” to get one.
The screenplay by Zamiri and former VICE writer Bertie Brandes is patchy but has some very funny moments. When XCX tells her driver she’s a singer who does dance-pop, he replies, “like Leona Lewis?”, then pulls up the music video for an old Charli hit (‘Boom Clap’) that fans will know isn’t one of her favourites. But despite Zamiri’s frenetic edits and self-consciously cool visuals telegraphing where XCX is at any given moment – seeing “DAGENHAM” spelled out in neon capitals is amusingly incongruous – the overarching narrative meanders towards an unconvincing final act.
Throughout, XCX gamely plays a more irritable and conflicted version of herself. Her dry line readings suit the material and she really shines in a horribly passive-aggressive counter with super-influencer Kylie Jenner, who advises her to level up while she has the chance. The Moment is too protracted and tonally uneven to work as a great mockumentary, but it has plenty of meme-worthy moments that TikTok will lap up. If that sounds like faint praise, well, just remember it was enough to make Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn a sensation back in 2023.
Details
- Director: Aidan Zamiri
- Starring: Charli XCX, Alexander Skarsgård, Jamie Demetriou
- Release date: February 20 (in UK cinemas)