Great pretender

Rating: 2/10 (24 January 2017)

It is flashy and colorful and the acting is good - the dancing and singing not so much, some of the music is really well placed if forgettable. But it is a movie that pretends for 128 minutes to be something it is not.
It is not a musical. It tries to be. But it forgets 20 minutes in and then remembers in the end for one wonderful classical musical scene that would be brilliant if it was all that La La Land was. But the rest, is not really a musical. Mostly because while it doesn't lack music it lacks music numbers. And the ones it has feel mostly out of place and there only so a bland love story can be called something more interesting. It is a movie with music. Not particularly good music either. There are two numbers that stuck with me for longer then the length of the movie. The rest might work within the story but doesn't manage to stand on its own.
The movie also pretends to be original. Which it is not. There has been stories like that. And better ones.
The characters are not sympathetic either. He is snobbish and self-centered and even in his growth remains a jerk. She has no idea what she wants and while she pretends to grow she remains a child. If the actors were any less charming and worked less well together I would be rooting for them to get slapped for half the movie. It made caring if they stay together or not and watching their struggles and their happy moments much less involved. And uninvolved audience is not something you are striving for as a story teller.
And the ending of the movie, don't even let me start on that. I was somewhat looking forward to it despite the movie's flaws and then the movie slapped me in the face and spit on itself and me as well. I ended up feeling lied to and took for a fool.
I have seen two wonderful movies that same week and going out of La La Land it was everything a movie should not make you feel. Disappointed. Mislead. Empty. Just like the movie is.