‘The Moment’ Review: The Return of Brat Summer

Despite our best efforts, no one can truly predict with 100% accuracy whether or not something will go viral. But when it does happen, whether you’re an A-list celebrity or just a normal person who happened to say something strangely quotable on the news, there’s a rush to capture that moment in a bottle and make it last as long as possible. Brat was Charli XCX’s moment. Brat Summer became a thing in 2024 with everything becoming dipped in its lime green album cover and everyone deemed brat, culminating with Collins English Dictionary naming it the word of the year. That was two years ago and like all things that go viral, the world has largely moved on to the next thing. Charlie XCX’s mockumentary The Moment takes audiences back to Brat Summer and explores the urge to make a viral moment last as long as possible. It’s outrageously hilarious at times as it pokes fun at the music industry and its robotic approach to chasing trends. It can get lost in its own documentary style of filmmaking, but solid performances by Charli XCX and Alexander Skarsgård capture the wonderful absurdity of The Moment.

It’s September 2024 and pop sensation Charli XCX is at the top of the charts as her album Brat has become a global phenomenon. The studio wants to keep the momentum going with the upcoming Brat tour so they’ve brought in pretentious filmmaker Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård) to direct a music concert film for Amazon. They’ve also partnered with bank Howard Stirling to release a Brat-themed credit card that comes with a free concert ticket at signup to attract young queer fans. The record company and everyone around her want to see Brat Summer last as long as possible, and Charlie agrees although as more and more voices overtake her own creative thoughts, she begins to wonder if all this fame and fortune is worth it.

The Moment gives audiences multiple versions of Charli XCX; there’s the pop star we recognize through her music and public appearances, but there’s also the Charli behind the performer who’s making all the decisions. Even then, all of these versions are still characters within a film. Celebrities are celebrities because of the parasocial relationships that are formed between them and their fans. The Moment breaks down those walls to a certain degree by pulling back the curtain a little bit, even if done for comedic effect. Charli XCX may be the biggest star at the moment during the film but she’s constantly overtaken by all the suits who care more about the money. Johannes and the concert films he directs are huge and go viral, but they are all the same and are devoid of any creativity. It’s exactly what Charli’s friend and longtime creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) warns her about.

Sure enough, Johannes implements all these changes that are opposite Charli and the style that got her fame in the first place, and Celeste is pushed aside. The scene where Johannes walks Charli through the new stage routine and gimmicks is easily the best moment of the film. It’s hilarious, absurd, and full of cringe, and both Charli XCX and Alexander Skarsgård pull it off brilliantly. As the direction of the concert gets further and further away from who Charli is, the tension around her swells. She struggles to navigate her rise to super stardom all at once and while she puts on a brave face in front of the public, she privately crumbles underneath all the pressure and anxiety that comes with it. Charli XCX is convincing on screen playing multiple versions of herself. She gives a monologue towards the end of the film that sums everything up and you can hear the vulnerability in her voice. This may be an exaggerated depiction of herself she’s playing, but you can see that there are glimmers of truth in her experience.

The footage of the film is everything that Johannes and his crew captures. In typical documentary fashion, the camera is often obscured by doorways, windows, and other people and angled above or below the intended focus to give it that gritty cinéma vérité feel. It can be a little too extreme. The closeups can be obnoxious and unnecessarily overwhelming and frankly the documentary style to the film doesn’t elevate it all that much. There are a few funny references to the camera, but the same story could have easily been told more cinematically and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

I’m not the biggest Charli XCX fan so there might have been some references that went over my head, but The Moment could stand in for any artist in the music industry. Despite not going as hard as many other mockumentaries do, the film delivers some meaningful insight not on how to go viral but what it takes to maintain that level of fame. Regardless of whether or not you feel like Brat Summer is over, Charli XCX isn’t going anywhere.