Directed by Aidan Zamiri and starring Charli XCX, The Moment is a mockumentary about a rising pop star navigating the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut.
What separates this movie from other recent tour documentaries is that it’s actually good (because it’s a mockumentary). Instead of being the boring, camp film that I expected, the moment is a commentary on creative ownership and commercialization that feels authentic, and is, in my opinion, funny.
Plot
The Moment is set in September 2024, and the end of brat summer. Charli’s label, Atlantic Records, forces her to partake in brand deals to keep brat relevant, one of these being a brat credit card. The card gives fans a free tour ticket if they sign up, under Howard Stirling, a failing bank.
An executive from Atlantic Records decides to license an Amazon Music tour documentary directed by Johannes Godwin, who tries to take over creative control to create a family-oriented/sanitized version of the tour, conflicting with Charli and Celeste’s (creative director) original idea. Charli becomes stressed out by tour rehearsals, brat promotion, and dealing with Johannes, so she takes a vacation to Ibiza.
While Johannes gains more creative control, Charli attempts to get a facial, but the esthetician tells her she needs to slow down in life, and decides she can’t give the facial due to Charli being too defensive. When Charli leaves the facial, she runs into Kylie Jenner, who tells her she should go even harder. Due to the pressure, Charli rashly decides to make a post about the Howard Stirling collab, needing to fund Johannes’s creative vision.
When Charli returns from Ibiza, she is burnt-out, and has no energy to argue with Johannes, leading to him implementing his horrible ideas, including a giant cigarette and lighter, new shade of brat green, and suspending Charli midair. Celeste is fired, and soon after, the Atlantic Record legal team rushes in to confront Charli because the post she made falsely advertised the credit card benefits, leading to fans committing fraud to gain the benefits, voiding the deal, and bankrupting Howard Stirling. Due to the immense social media backlash, Charli disappears, and isn’t seen for six days.
Before returning to rehearsal Charli sends a voice message to Celeste, apologizing for everything, and admitting that she has grown tired of brat and her desire to always be liked. She tells Celeste she has decided to do the tour the way Johannes wanted to; she can be done with brat.
The film ends with a trailer for Johannes Brat Live! Concert film, which turns out to be critically acclaimed.
Personal Thoughts
I thought this film was a great goodbye to brat that allowed for fans to move on. It came out at the perfect time, releasing on January 30th, 2026, 14 days before Charli’s new album, Wuthering Heights, released.
To me, the movie felt like a cautionary tale on what happens if you let commercialization take over. In attempting to be liked by others, Charli becomes something she isn’t and she loses control on her own tour, with the tour losing it’s original idea. There were a lot of emotional and vulnerable moments, my favorite being when Charli was suspended midair while the song “i might say something stupid” played. I also liked the scene where Charli was in Ibiza arguing with her mangers, before she dropped a wine glass, cutting herself.
While I thought this movie was funny, it turns out lots of people disagree, but I’m willing to die on this hill. There were lots of good references and subtle jokes. The acting was way better than I expected; it felt very natural.
Overall, this movie was just better than I expected.
