‘The Moment’ Review: Charli xcx Is a Version of Herself in a Mockumentary That Plays It Straight…But Should Have Played It Smarter

The opening sequence of "The Moment" features Charli XCX in a stark, monochrome performance, her movements synced to a harsh industrial beat—a visual that could easily be pulled from one of her own groundbreaking music videos. This quickly gives way to a montage of genuine news clips documenting the 'Brat Summer' phenomenon, the massive cultural movement sparked by her 2024 album "brat." Although presented as a mockumentary about a pop star gearing up for a world tour, the film cleverly avoids broad parody. Instead, it adopts a deadpan, vérité style to build a parallel reality that unsettlingly mirrors the actual mechanics of fame and commerce.

In this constructed world, Charli XCX portrays a heightened version of herself as the unnervingly composed center of a media storm. She is constantly shepherded between high-profile engagements, from a "Late Show" taping to a Vogue feature, by a team whose flattery masks relentless demands. The commercial imperative is personified by Atlantic Records executive Tammy, played by Rosanna Arquette, who is obsessed with capitalizing on the Brat Summer wave. Her first major play is a partnership with a fictional British financial institution, Howard Stirling, to launch a credit card aimed at young LGBTQ+ consumers—a move the film presents as the apex of cynical, trend-driven capitalism. This sets the stage for a planned concert film, which is immediately approved by Amazon MGM Studios. The search for a director leads to Johannes, a character brought to life with passive-aggressive pomposity by Alexander Skarsgård, whom a colleague describes as a hotshot who "essentially makes commercials for women."

Director Aidan Zamiri initially establishes a compelling, authentic documentary feel, effectively capturing the genuine multitasking pressures of contemporary celebrity and Charli's own defiant, Essex-born charisma. However, the film's dynamic fractures with Johannes's arrival. He immediately pushes to sanitize Charli's act for a broader, "family-friendly" audience, demanding she soften explicit lyrics and stage elements. This conflict creates the narrative's central tension but also exposes its key weakness. Charli XCX's entire artistic identity—a potent fusion of posh aesthetics, punk energy, and subversive sexuality—is the core of her appeal. As music industry analyst Dr. Lena Shaw observes, "For a label to hire a director explicitly to dilute that brand is not only an artistic misstep but a fundamental misunderstanding of her market. Her success, much like Madonna's in the '80s, is built on a foundation of controlled transgression." The premise that an artist with her level of control and savvy would seriously acquiesce to such demands feels inherently unconvincing.

The plot attempts to justify this pivot through a contrived Ibiza encounter where Charli meets Kylie Jenner, playing herself. Jenner's admiration for Johannes triggers a spiral of professional insecurity in the star. This is compounded by an abrupt subplot in which a social media post from Charli inadvertently crashes a systems, causing the collapse of the Howard Stirling Bank through a botched concert ticket promotion. These plot points are rushed through with such narrative haste that they sabotage the film's earlier grounded aesthetic. Rather than escalating into effective satire or compelling drama, "The Moment" becomes stuck in a no-man's-land between realism and absurdity. The final result is a film that provides a captivating, behind-the-scenes look at pop's machinery but ultimately falters by not fully committing to its own critique, leaving viewers more puzzled by its logic than engaged by its commentary.