‘The Moment’: Charli XCX Flirts With Fact and Fiction in Chaotic ‘Brat’ Mockumentary

Alci Rengifo

Surely life must have been surreal for British pop star Charli XCX during the monstrous rise of “Brat,” and the “Brat Summer” that followed. She catapulted to a new level of stardom in 2024, after the album’s release, which also came to define a particular, hedonistic attitude that signaled the singer abandoning any notion of being a “clean girl.” It is not surprising that Charli would eventually front a feature film. Curiously, instead of making a movie or releasing some kind of revelatory documentary, Charli XCX tries to do both with A24’s satirical “The Moment.” 

The genre is best known as mockumentaries, and this one is clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of famous titles like “This Is Spinal Tap.” Charli plays, of course, herself. It’s 2024 and “brat” is everywhere. The singer is gearing up for a world tour yet feels the stress of nothing quite working to her liking. She is surrounded by a colorful entourage that includes manager Tim (Jamie Demetrio), manic social media manager Lloyd (Isaac Powell) and creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates). Charli is feeling unease over a director named Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård) being pushed on her by the record label to shoot a concert film. It is one of those situations where an artist doesn’t like losing control over their enterprise. There is also confusion surrounding the upcoming launch of a “Brat” credit card by Howard Stirling Bank, aimed specifically at the LGBTQ community. Few are clear on how this will actually work. As the opening tour date nears, Charli finds herself driving from commitment to commitment in London, feeling physical exhaustion and potentially starting to lose her mind.

Major music stars used to give actual movie roles a chance. Artists like Madonna or David Bowie would challenge themselves by inhabiting characters in movies like “Dick Tracy” and “Basquiat.” Some may still try, but now it just seems easier to make a movie about yourself. “The Moment” arrives a year after the Weeknd’s pompous vanity project, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” To Charli XCX’s credit, this film feels much more coherent. Director Aidan Zamiri is essentially transitioning here to features after a career doing music videos, including for Charli XCX. He directed the lively, underwear-tossing video for the singer’s collaboration with Billie Eilish, “Guess.” As a comedy, this movie has a sort of British dry wit that can work for fleetingly entertaining moments. Certain bits work as pure comedy on their own, like Charli’s entourage confused over the particulars of applying for the brat credit card. Alexander Skarsgård’s Johannes is also a scene stealer when pretending to be so admiring of Charli, before giving his own offbeat opinions while observing the layout of the show, critiquing it for not being “family friendly.”

Outsiders walking into this movie won’t learn a thing about Charli XCX’s backstory or career trajectory. It is a fully enclosed trip that surprisingly lacks much of the artist’s music. Most of the film is actually devoid of songs, there are not even any needle drops to nod at other artists. You won’t get a concert moment until the very end when the credits begin to roll. Much of “The Moment” feels like moody self-reflection, verging at times on the woe is me attitude of celebrities simply suffering from the weight of being so famous. Or is Charli mocking that as well as part of her subversive bad girl ethos? She’s a natural rebel with such a presence that we wish she had just made an actual backstage documentary in the style of Madonna’s “Truth or Dare.” Instead, the movie proves most entertaining when hanging out with Charli while she tries to make sense of Johanne’s imposed new stage designs, or banters with certain cameos. The best of the latter belongs to Rachel Sennott, actor and friend who appeared in the “360” music video.  In the film Sennott has a catty moment with Charli at a party, where they practice perfect passive aggressiveness in their banter. Sennott is the kind of actor who can truly evoke meanness in-between the lines.

Other drop-ins add to the sense of Charli living in a world that’s always spinning with the commitments and politics of being a celebrity. She tries to get away from the pressure by flying to Ibiza, only to bump into Kylie Jenner at a spa. Jenner assures her Johannes is a genius and in fact, wanted to hire him for a project before he committed to Charli. Poor Charli is then thrown into a fit of insecurity. There then follows plenty of shots of the singer walking around expensive suites stressed out, unsure of everything while her entourage assure her everything is great. She has frantic phone conversations while breaking wine glasses or constantly sits in the back of cars looking dour at the London skyline. The fans are always there ready to cling to Charli at publicity events. It would be fascinating to know more about what makes her tick, but this is, in the end, a work of fiction. 

As if sensing the material needs some dash of excitement, the story goes for a twist when Charli sends out a social media post that causes a frenzy for the brat credit card, eventually crashing the Howard Stirling Bank. The details on what happened are kept hazy, but it is clear Charli feels bad about it. There could have been more comedy gold there. Indeed, the whole film could have been much funnier and edgier if it had truly gone for the kind of satire embodied by Tammy (Rosanna Arquette), the Atlantic Records executive leading the charge to keep banking off Charli, demanding everyone figure out how to make Brat Summer permanent. Maybe “The Moment” is meant to be the final turning of the page, as the singer prepares to release a new record in February, the soundtrack album to Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.” From brat to Emily Brontë, Charli XCX is never a bore, which is why she can do much better than this curiously intriguing but ultimately languishing experiment.

“The Moment” releases Jan. 30 in theaters nationwide.