Really?

Rating: 1/10 (3 November 2018)

I have no idea how this musical saw the light of day or how this movie of it has garnered an 8+ stars here on IMDB. Weak is the one word that comes to mind after watching this. Weak songs, weak story ... just weak.
I'm a big Ryan Gosling fan and saw this in a list of great movies of this century so far and watched it because I didn't know he could sing. He does fine but there aren't many demands put on his voice. This is odd though since the leading man in this musical doesn't really have a signature song that showcases his voice. But then the 'signature song' from this musical, the one that won the Oscar, is forgettable. Completely forgettable. I mean I couldn't whistle it with a gun to my head.
And speaking of whistling, let's just put this musical to the Old Grey Whistle Test. This is an old English theatre district test where you stand outside the theatre as people leave and if the old gray-haired patrons are whistling a tune or two from the show, it's going to be a hit. There isn't one song in this musical that could pass that test ... and since I'm an old gray-haired guy I can tell you there isn't even a phrase I could whistle. Even the little phrase they repeated half a dozen times or more can't be summoned up. I'm a musician. I can hold onto a chunk of new music in my head if it's memorable. None of these songs were.
And what happened to the forty-five minutes or so in the middle of the movie when it stopped being a musical completely?? Okay, a musical is a show where everybody is singing their lines (for the most part) rather than just speaking them. There's a huge chunk of this movie that has no singing at all. What happened?
Really? 8+ stars? I don't see it.