Visual feast of... nothingness

Rating: 2/10 (19 January 2017)

Emma stone has been noted from a number of strong performances, she really does try to make the best out of a shallow one dimensional character. But this is doomed to fall flat on it's deflated face with the unbelievable, unremarkable performance from Ryan Gosling.
There's visuals to take your breath away, costume and set design that take you on a cinematic journey into Hollywood. Apart from all of the gloss, there's nothing left but a plain storyline with half developed characters that seems to be working aimlessly through a cliché plot. The on screen chemistry is what struck me as missing at first but then you realise this is largely due to a flat dynamic between characters. How do they truly feel? What do they truly love about one another? Why couldn't they work it out? It's not in there. & We can't guess, because we don't KNOW them. By the end they're as much strangers as they are to us in the beginning. Much like a roller coaster that accelerates to the top only to slowly descend and safely pop us back to 0.
It's overrated, boring and sad because there was great potential for a cutting edge take on an old comforting theme. Instead we are on oooh! then oh?