Average at best

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2017)

Obviously there is a little of a problem when you watch a movie as acclaimed as this one, this will always generate a slightly unfair expectation bias.
Still, battling through opening scenes which are simply boring, wondering when the movie may start taking a few unexpected turns, dreading the reappearance of people singing mediocrely and without much inspiration, not much good can be said about the first hour.
And even the rest I spent far from captivated by a disastrously simple story line: Girl meets boy repeatedly, they fall in love, both are very talented and under-appreciated artists, boy acts stupid, girl sets him straight, one row and the relationship is on pause, boy rescues girl from low self-esteem, they both have to follow their dream which rips them apart, years later they meet again, both successful and appreciated now, still love each other, but oh the tragedy they can't be together.
And before we can leave we have to sit through an alternative universe dream where everything went perfect.
There is basically a complete absence of witty dialog, all elements are pieced together to self-celebrate Hollywood, at times the picture gets so cheesy the screen threatens to turn into caramel. Add a happy-end and you would doubtlessly leave with a sugar overdose. As it is, it's tolerable.
What's rescuing this movie from the jaws of lethal pathos is its cinematographic master class, the electric magic between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling which is well-proved by now, and a main score track which carries some spice. The sheer number of awards this movie has received is hard to understand for me.