"Dancing with the Stars"

Rating: 3/10 (29 January 2017)

"La La Land" is NOT a top-notch musical in the company of great musicals like "West Side Story," "An American in Paris," "Gigi," "The Sound of Music," (I could go on and on). It's a wanna-be musical that seems to owe its appeal by being seen as an homage to these earlier musicals -- without being a worthy musical on its own merit. Apparently, given its high rating, it's also being rated by people who haven't seen these great musicals (to realize how bad "La La Land" is).
On the positive side, Emma and Ryan are very nice "eye candy" and do some nice acting which helps to redeem this movie from being a complete waste. But this is a MUSICAL where leads need to sing and/or dance. And perhaps our culture has gotten so used to watching non-singers sing and non-dancers dance in TV shows such as "Dancing with the Stars," that it's completely appropriate to have the two leading characters be people who can neither sing nor dance. But let's not pretend -- Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling cannot sing or dance.
Musically, there really isn't a ton of music. Although it started off looking like a musical with a big production number, there's very little music in the middle of the movie. A few of the songs are appealing, but none are show-stoppers or particularly memorable (no one would hum a tune from "La La Land" when leaving the theater). And although musicals tend to have songs that reflect the story-line, "La La Land" has mostly done away with that convention. (Oh, that must be why it's gotten awards!) Instead, we have a few songs used as themes that are repeated in the movie.
What about the story? It's really a fairly standard romantic trope, but without the standard ending. (Oh, that's got to be worthy of an award!)
The movie is also rather long -- someone should have edited it (a lot). The cinematography seemed fake (too much color?), and I hated the camera work -- hand-held dizzy-work in some scenes and too too many close-ups of Emma.
Most people feel compelled to see "La La Land" given the number of awards and nominations, but it's not really worth the time. Go rent "Grease" or "Cabaret" instead.