2026 Blind Spot Series: The Star

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What I knew going in: Nothing

Two Blind Spots in one month? Who is she?! Someone who hasn't been to the theater to see a new wide release and who has been spending a lot of time binging TV shows, that's who. But I missed talking about movies, so I decided to head over to the Bette David collection on HBO Max.

What drew me to The Star, aside from the fact that it stars both Davis and Natalie Wood was the fact that the premise sounded so similar to All About Eve, which I loved. I just had to see why Davis would want to do this again. And while the stories are very different, one of them is a clear winner.

And this ain't it. I wouldn't call this movie "bad" because Bette is truly captivating as always, but she is the only one that is delivering her lines in an unstilted way. This is a very weak script, especially when it comes to the dialogue. There's plenty of platitudes and exposition. Poor Natalie Wood basically has to word vomit all her thoughts because we don't spent enough time with her to know just how much her mother being absent from her life affects her. Even Sterling Hayden, who is supposed to be the hunky love interest that "saves" Maggie kind of comes off like an oof. It's very peculiar to me that a film that includes a scene of Maggie botching line delivery during an audition STILL feels more realistic than the simplest sentence uttered by someone else. 

This wasn't even 90 minutes so it breezed by quickly and my main reason for watching was Bette, so I can't say I'm too disappointed. I just wouldn't recommend it to many.

Grade: C

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