A great passion project that is also an epic movie on its own

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2017)

Regardless of what you feel over the Oscars mishap, I will say outright that I do like this film, a lot. The scope of it, visually as well as harmonically, is immense; this is especially apparent in both the opening 'Another Day of Sun' musical sequence that is 5 minute of uncut, intensely intricate dancing, and then on the Museum date which is almost dreamy with how the visuals and the sound design merges.
In terms of plot, this film does have some similarities with Damien Chazelle's last film, the musical-themed psychological thriller Whiplash, in that you have a jazz musician who is hell-bent on making it in the world, and by the end both him and his love interest do make it (more on this later). Ryan Gosling in this film acts way better than he sings, that I can say for certain, as a lot of times he is out of key and his voice doesn't suit a lot of the songs he does, but his acting is great; the scene where he begs for his job back is both serious and keeps the light-heartedness that the film does try and maintain. Emma Stone in her Oscar-winning role here is by far the better singer and dancer of the two, and her performance as Mia is very expressive and eager, and also fun. John Legend has a good supporting role too as a former friend of Sebastian (Gosling) who he recruits into his pop band, much to Seb's reluctance.
The soundtrack and the set design's are big and broad and totally awesome. Aside from Gosling, a lot of the vocals are strong, and I was a bit disappointed in the lack of JK Simmons as Seb's old boss - I mean, he was amazing in Whiplash, and is also a professional vocalist, use it! The ending is where the film does kind of fall down flat. Much like The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is amazing, this film contains an ending that gets way too emotional way too fast. We see Seb and Mia talk, then a caption "5 years later" comes on screen, and we see Mia is married with a young daughter to an older man, and they visit a jazz bar in the evening, owned by Seb. They lock eyes, and imagine how if everything had gone completely their way what would've happened. It's a great musical number that ends, very dourly, on Mia and her husband leaving, with Mia and Seb exchanging one last look. It's just such a big leap with so much different in 5 years that you have no time to process it, and it spits in the face of a lot of the film. And it is a shame because narratively, the film was good up to that point.
Nevertheless, it is still an extremely enjoyable movie with good songs and direction that will make you want to keep watching it on repeat viewings. The ending just keeps it from being perfect though.