Boring plot, underwhelming music

Rating: 2/10 (4 February 2017)

I like movie musicals, like 'West Side Story', 'Mamma Mia' or even 'Mary Poppins', so I was really looking forward to seeing this movie - especially after the great opening on the highway. Unfortunately, my expectations were disappointed. Just because everyone says that the movie is great, it doesn't mean it is.
First of all, the plot is not very interesting. Mia (Emma Stone) works in a coffee shop but wants to become an actress. She falls in love with jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) whom she meets roughly 10 times "by chance". Sebastian tries to save jazz and convinces Mia that jazz is the best music in the world. At the end, Mia gives up her dream while Sebastian creates a successful jazz club. Since there is so little action, much of the time there's boring conversation and a lot of clichés. At the end a different, shortened version of the movie is presented where the protagonists are always successful. It was so hard to watch it to the end.
Second, the singing and dancing was mediocre. Emma stone performed better than Ryan Gosling, but that isn't hard. None of them are professional singers or dancers.
Third, there's the music. Google says there are 28 songs, but some of the themes are used in very many different songs. Maybe I would have been overwhelmed by the music if it wasn't that repetitive. But 'City of Stars' or 'Mia and Sebastian's theme' were played so often that I was really annoyed when I had to hear it the fifth time.
All in all, I can't recommend this movie. If you are a jazz lover, there are some music scenes that might interest you, but you can also watch them on Youtube.