Welcome to the Gosling & Stone show

Rating: 5/10 (12 August 2017)

'La La Land' was the toast of the town this past Awards season, earning scores of nominations and six Academy Awards. But while critics loved the film to death, and most of the movie-going audience was cool with it, too, there's no denying that it's a schlockfest that's high on itself and its pretentiousness.
Despite this, 'La La Land' clearly benefits from the vision of Damien Chazelle, who recognized an opportunity to bring back the musical genre in a way that hearkens back to films from decades ago. From the opening freeway sequence to the many impromptu song-and-dance moments scattered throughout, there's a lot of commotion going on. This musical whiplash might be interesting to some, but it can be very jarring for those who are not bonafide fans of the genre. Even though these musical numbers might seem somewhat all over the place, they are actually a useful device that help guide the audience through the story between two struggling Los Angeles transplants (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone). While annoying, "City of Stars" is the song that acts as a needle that threads everything together.
But yes, 'La La Land' is basically the Gosling & Stone show. Both are major stars in their own right, and together they do bring a good deal of chemistry to the screen. But when a film relies too heavily on its leads, it can have some weak spots in other areas. For 'La La Land,' this includes the fact that there's pretty much no supporting cast (John Legend's role is an elongated cameo) and there's really no "there" there for a plot. Sure, the somewhat straightforward progression of the film is thrown for a loop in the climax, which is refreshing, but it's still not the mark of a first-rate film.
'La La Land' may not have won best picture, but it won enough critical acclaim that was mostly based on what some were hoping the film could be, not what it actually was. It's not the worst thing to come out in 2016, but it's also far from the greatest.