The Moment Review: Charli XCX's Brat Summer Is Dulled in Shallow Quasi-Spoof

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Singer Charli xcx's album brat dominated 2024, with the entirety of June, July and August devoted to what was soon dubbed "brat summer." As the opening titles of Charli xcx's quasi-spoof film The Moment lays out, it was just that with the album's slime green cover getting its own name and the titles being dropped in regular conversations. But can "brat summer" go on forever? That's the question at the center of The Moment and the answer is: not really.

Crafting a spoof of the entertainment or music industries is tough, and though xcx has called Rob Reiner's This is Spinal Tap an influence on The Moment, there's little in common short of both being set in the musical world. Aidan Zamiri and Bertie Brandes's script can vacillate between utterly shallow and numbingly inside while failing to give us audiences much of what made brat summer so fun: letting xcx run wild and revel in the anarchy. What is left in The Moment is a "woe is me" story of a musician having to come to terms with moving on from her most fame-inducing situation, when audiences already know she'll succeed.

Set in the fall of 2024, we meet Charli as she's preparing for a massive concert film of her brat tour to be released via Amazon. Her and her creative director/best friend Celeste (Trew Mullen) want to make the tour a wild, chaotic experience but are forced to deal with the concert film's director Johannes (Alexander Skarsgard) who wants to take the tour in a safer, more commericial direction. As the start of the tour gets closer Charli becomes indecisive and overly consumed about making sure that not only is the tour a success, but that she won't fall into irrelevancy.

Charli xcx might sing in "360" how "I don't give a fuck what you think" but she does. She really, really does. At least the her within The Moment does and it's impossible not to see it as a construct which is a bit of a problem. The best inside Hollywood features (whether that's music or film) contains a kernel of reality within the person. Spinal Tap feels like a real band who are utter buffoons. There is verisimilitude in how they leap off the screen as real characters. The same can't be claimed for this version of Charli xcx who is painfully underwritten.

She, like most celebrities, has a bevy of handlers and yes-men that handle everything. And for all of them deferring to her and telling her she can do whatever she wants, Charli comes off as highly indecisive and dismissive. The battle between Celeste and Johannes sees Charli make several questionable choices that stab her presumed bestie in the back yet isn't ever really held to account outside of a longwinded email meant to wrap everything in a slime-green brat bow. There's new to be said--though it doesn't feel like anything ever actually is being deconstructed–about the industry, selling out, or the way music has been corporatized. There isn't even any wink at the camera about this movie's very existence. (Consider A24 is releasing this the movie is exclusively harsh on Amazon.)

There's nothing known about her that isn't public. She talks of being afraid to go home and is seen sitting out on a hotel balcony while an interview with her plays on her TV. This in spite of her wearing what looks like a massive engagement ring and her superfans knowing she has a boyfriend and did get married in 2025. She has zero friends outside of work and apparently no family. There's something that could have been done with all this but the movie doesn't dive deeper beyond "I'm so alone." The whole thing plays like a music video--simple story, find a meaning, end--but this goes on for nearly two hours and has very little music to show for it outside of the opening credits and some very brief musical performances.

That's probably The Moment's biggest surprise (and disappointment) is not finding the humor derived from the idea of "let's put on a show," in this case a multimillion dollar show wherein the artist wants to emphasize cocaine and fun while the corporate daddies want no cursing and safety. None of the jokes ever elicit much more than a chuckle, though they're most consistently derived from when Charli and crew interact with Johannes. Skarsgard, striding in with a partial manbun and beads, espouses a peace and love mentality that hides a darker heart that's never really explored beyond one or two throwaway lines.

It's in Skarsgard and xcx's interactions that yield the most fun. Him trying to act like her, posing and dancing, while emphasizing that she needs to be more like a Taylor Swift or Demi Lovato. XCX has a great face when it's expressing disgust or confusion at what he's asking her to do. Unfortunately, this comes with about 40-odd minutes of showtime left.

The Moment might appease xcx superfans just content to watch the singer do anything, but it yields little beyond that. Though worthy in its attempts to modernize the rock mockumentary, there's no real humor or depth to the material, and what meaning is there has been done better before. Just listen to brat again. On repeat.

Grade: C-

The Moment is in theaters Friday.