I liked the film better when when it was called "(500) Days of Summer."

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2017)

This review has SPOILERS!!!! This will be a short review of "La La Land."
To be blunt, "La La Land" is basically "(500) Days of Summer" (which came out in 2009) with more song and dance numbers. I read one review about "La La Land" along with hearing all the buzz about how great of a film it is. So, I saw a late showing of it on New Year's Eve. I was the first in the theater, and I thought that I would be the only one, but about ten random people walked in. I thought that the retro intro of the film such as the "CinemaScope" graphic was cool. But as the film started, I felt like, "Why does this movie seem so familiar?" Then it hit me, "(500) Days of Summer!" I then was able to predict what was going to happen in the film.
Here are SOME of the similarities of both films:
Both films have the theme of boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl.
Both films have the change in seasons.
"La La Land" has Angels Flight," and "(500) Days of Summer has Angels Knoll."
In "(500) Days of Summer" Tom and Summer see an older film. In "La La Land" the same thing happens.
"(500) Days of Summer" has Expectations vs Reality and "La La Land" has a dream sequence scene at Sebastian's jazz club Seb's where the characters imagine what their lives would have been like if they had stayed together.
But, "(500) Days of Summer" wasn't the only film that "La La Land" will remind you of. As I watched some of the other scenes I kept thinking why does that look so familiar? The film is basically an homage to musicals such as "Singin' in the Rain," and an "American in Paris." The scene that is so obvious is towards the end with the boy and the giant red balloon, which was a blatant homage to "The Red Balloon," which teachers at my elementary school seemed to have enjoyed screening for us. I read a review after watching the film and it had still comparisons of dance numbers from the plethora of films it pays homage to including "Sleeping Beauty." One of the homages to "(500) Days of Summer" is when Sebastian and Mia are riding Angel's Flight in downtown Los Angeles. Although Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) didn't actually go on Angels Flight, they sat on one of the benches next door at Angels Knoll.
How many homages can a current film have in it from films decades old along with a super similar story line to a more current film from 2009 before it stops being an homage, and starts being something else like a best of compilation piece?
Do I think that "La La Land" is a GOOD film? Yes. Do I think that it is a great film? NO! Do I think that it is an overrated film? Yes! Do I think that it will receive countless awards and nominations? Yes! Hollywood loves films with song and dance numbers, especially if the actors aren't known for those talents. This would have been a much better film if Joseph Gordon-Levitt had portrayed the character of Sebastian instead of Ryan Gosling. Gordon-Levitt can show more emotions on screen than one look Gosling, and has a better singing voice, along with dancing talent.
"(500) Days of Summer" was original, and felt more real because of the characters and the non-cliché happy ending, and the real places in LA that the average person could visit that aren't normally scene in films that are made in LA. "La La Land" is definitely a fun date film, and likable, but when you realize as I did that this is a lesser version of "(500) Days of Summer" with more song and dance numbers, (along with a boatload of homages) it doesn't seem as creative as the current Hollywood buzz/hype portrays it to be.