All Singing, All Dancing, All Bourgeois

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2017)

As a musical: excellent, beautiful, wonderful choreography, bright colors, bravo!
As a movie:
I actually avoided seeing La La Land for quite some time because the plot seemed thin and trite to me as someone who had lived in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, I'm not exactly swept away by tales of aspiring performers, to me that's just real life, and this pair of struggling performers seemed especially privileged.
Though highly amused by people singing and dancing on the freeway (it might be the best or second best scene in the entire film) and completely in love with how much the director decided to use Griffith Park (the REAL happiest place on earth) I was distracted by the fact that a barista drove a Prius and lived in an art deco apartment, and that an underemployed pianist not only could afford to live without roommates in present-day L.A. but could afford the gas to drive a car around town instead of taking public transportation. Hey, I know the film is called La La Land (see the aforementioned people dancing on the freeway without dying brutal deaths) but this aspect made the film seem outright classist to me. As an Angeleno I inwardly stewed over the preposterous detachment of reality the writers and directors must have to even suggest such a scenario. While these things may have been possible in 1983, this movie was made in 2015-2016, and it ain't happening unless you have a trust fund.
The film coasted along merrily and was certainly better than average. I enjoyed the jazz music and the multiple shots of alleyways and trashcans and back entrances....but a huge chunk of L.A. was completely erased. The characters only seemed to know West L.A, Hermosa Beach and Griffith Park...there were no realistic scenes of trudging through North Hollywood. nor were there really any memorable shots of the Historic Core in DTLA (except for Angel's Flight). There was no hint of Latino culture. No trains, no Ubers, no hotels....this film was NOT written by anyone with a recent experience of being a struggling Millennial trying to enjoy life in Los Angeles. Pool parties at mansions? Um....okaaaaay.
I was rooting for the happy couple, but by film's end I felt dismayed and betrayed by Emma Stone's character. Not only did she abandon Ryan Gosling for some upper middle class Ken Doll cut-out of a husband and a baby, but she even seems to have abandoned Los Angeles, casually groaning "I don't miss this" to freeway traffic and intimating how it might be easier to catch a play "back in New York."
Truthfully, I did feel more connected to Ryan Gosling's L.A.- loyal, jazz loving character fulfilling his dream at the end by owning his own jazz club in cozy spot somewhere just off the freeway ramp, but overall, I'm giving this film a 7.
Yes it's better than average, yes I'd watch it again, but it's not the best film I've ever seen, and on a personal level there's something about it that vaguely unsettles me.