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THE MOMENT - The Popcorn Junkies CHARLI XCX Movie Review (Spoilers)

·19 min·1 clip

A spa retreat in Ibiza ends with Charli XCX being thrown out after a treatment she is told she is not ready for.

1. Popcorn Junkies reviews A24’s The Moment, a Charli XCX mockumentary directed by Aidan Zamiri. 2. The episode is led by the Popcorn Junkies reviewer, who names Charli XCX, Aidan Zamiri, Jamie Demetriou, Rosanna Arquette, Alexander Skarsgård, Rachel Sennott, and Kylie Jenner as the key names. 3. The episode asks whether a mockumentary about Brat Summer can both satirize and protect Charli XCX. 4. The reviewer says the film is set at the end of Brat Summer and follows the fallout from Charli XCX’s breakout success. 5. He explains that the story turns on the tension between Charli XCX’s independent album-making and the attention of Amazon, Atlantic, the tour, and the label. 6. He compares the film’s structure to This Is Spinal Tap, The Thick of It, and The Office. 7. He says the viewer is placed inside the documentary crew’s privileged position without the characters constantly breaking the fourth wall. 8. He points to The Idol on HBO Max as another comparison, especially for the pop-star entourage, agent, manager, label, and designer material. 9. He says the film works best when it follows the support staff and business people around Charli XCX. 10. He praises Jamie Demetriou’s performance as the manager who keeps having to fix problems and relay bad news. 11. He says Rosanna Arquette plays a seasoned music executive who pushes the project toward a more marketable direction. 12. He describes Alexander Skarsgård’s Johannes as arrogant, self-interested, misogynistic, and overcooked. 13. He highlights a strobe warning at the start, scratched-on-screen chapter interstitials, and bright, fast editing as part of the style. 14. He says the cinema audience in central London was sold out, loud, and laughing throughout the screening. 15. He describes an Ibiza spa retreat scene where Charli XCX is thrown out of a treatment after being told she is not ready for it. 16. He notes a candid encounter with Kylie Jenner and says the film cuts between Jenner’s polished look and Charli XCX’s makeup-free closeups. 17. He says Rachel Sennott plays a fictionalized version of herself and joins early scenes involving drugs and fourth-wall jokes. 18. He argues the episode has a fizzy, cocaine-fuelled energy, but also says the film becomes baggier when it leans into a credit-card subplot and a more serious creative-vision speech. 19. Viewers who enjoy music-industry satire, mockumentaries, and pop-culture cameos. 20. Viewers who want a straightforward concert film or a serious drama.

As heard by us

A sly, unsettled take on whether Charlie XCX is acting or just playing it straight.

The review keeps returning to one clean question: is Charlie XCX acting, or only leaning close enough to herself that the film can build its comedy around her?

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A skeptical mockumentary review that keeps asking whether Charlie XCX is the butt of the joke or the one aiming it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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