The Moment Review: Charli XCX’s A24 Mockumentary Is a Neon Flash in the Pan That Struggles to Sustain the Hype

Director: Aidan Zamiri

Cast: Charli XCX, Alexander Skarsgård, Hailey Benton Gates, Kylie Jenner, Rachel Sennott

My Rating: 6.1/10

The Verdict

The Moment is a bold, visually hypnotic experiment that ultimately feels as fleeting as the cultural phenomenon it tries to satirize. I believe Charli XCX is a magnetic screen presence, but I found the script’s meta-commentary on "Brat" to be more exhausting than enlightening - a stylish, strobe-lit diversion that lacks the narrative of the album that inspired it.

The Full Review

When I first saw the neon-green title cards for The Moment, I quietly expected a sharp, Spinal Tap-esque skewering of the pop machine - I mean, the "Brat" era has been analyzed to death, so a mockumentary seemed like the perfect way to bury it.

However, while I am convinced that Aidan Zamiri is a visual genius, the film itself often feels like a collection of music video outtakes held together by a thin, cynical plot.

The Plot: The Death of a Trend

The film follows a "hell version" of Charli (played by herself) in September 2024, at the absolute peak of her fame where she’s prepping for an arena tour while being harassed by Atlantic Records to launch a "Brat-branded credit card."

The central conflict arises when the label brings in Johannes Godwin (a delightfully annoying Alexander Skarsgård) to film a sanitized, "family-friendly" concert doc for Amazon.

I did appreciate the initial "workplace comedy" energy, and I felt for Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates), the creative director who wants to keep the club-kid authenticity while Johannes wants to replace the word "cunt" on stage with a more family friendly term.

But, the film loses its momentum halfway through, meandering into a series of "celebrity existential crises" that don't always land, and I did find the inclusion of a holistic facialist in Ibiza to be a bizarre tonal detour that didn't serve the core satire.

Performance: Charli vs. The Cameos

Charli XCX is undeniably the "It Girl" for a reason, where you notice her vulnerability in the scenes where she’s without makeup, staring at her "aging" skin in a mirror, but I think she has a real future in acting.

As for the cameos, we have Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner playing heightened versions of themselves, but their scenes feel like isolated sketches rather than part of a cohesive world - Kylie’s advice to "go even harder" when people get sick of you was a highlight.

Style vs. Substance: The A24 Problem

Sean Price Williams’s cinematography is incredible - all warm, over-saturated colors and jittery, verite-style camera work, and the strobe-lit opening is a genuine sensory assault.

The movie features some aggressive editing, probably as a reflection of the "high-wire" nature of fame, but the style often masks a lack of real narrative substance. The aesthetic is doing all the work that the writing should be doing.

By the time we get to the credit card controversy, the satire feels a bit "toothless."

The Moment Ending Explained: The Broken Vow

• The Surrender: After a mental breakdown and a public backlash over the credit card fraud, Charli records a long voice note to Celeste, where she is finally admitting that she’s "tired of being Brat."
• The Mutation: Instead of fighting Johannes, she decides to let him make his "bad" movie - this was a cynical but realistic ending - as she uses the "failure" of the tour to kill the persona.
• The Bastardized Film: The movie ends with a trailer for the "actual" concert film, Brat Live!, which the audience (in the movie's world) loves.
• The Silence: I believe the lack of a big musical finale was a bold choice, as it tells us that the "party" didn't end with a bang, but with a corporate whimper.

The Moment FAQ

Is this movie actually "Brat"?

It’s more of a "post-Brat" autopsy, as it spends more time in cars and boardrooms than in the club.

Where can I stream The Moment?

It is currently only in theaters. As an A24 production, expect it to hit HBO Max by Mid 2026.

Does Kylie Jenner have a big role?

No, as her appearance is more of a "vision" or a "devil on the shoulder" cameo during a vacation scene.

Is it a comedy or a horror?

It has "cringe humor" in the vein of The Office, but the lighting and pacing often feel like a psychological horror film like Black Swan.

What happened to the credit card?

The subplot involves the card being a disaster that bankrupted a major bank. It was a clever, if slightly on-the-nose, critique of capitalist "pink-washing."