Beautiful film but overpraised

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2017)

I am going to be honest. La La Land was getting into my nerves before I watched it after so much full-on publicity. I watched it just because it was recommended to me by a a friend who is not usually into this sort of films.
This is the story of the artistic and personal struggle of a couple of young artists who fall in love at the wrong time, and struggle with the harshness of pursuing a dream, not making it, and having to find a way of life to pay their bills, and keeping the relationship. This is also a film about what-would-have-happened-if, A Sliding Doors sort of reflection. Indeed, the best part of it, or the one I enjoyed the most were the last 10-15 minutes of the film, which kept me crying for about 15 minutes non-stop.
Emma Stone really deserves the Oscar, it is not that she dances (OK) and sings (OK), it is that her performance had a great coloratura; she shows an incredible dramatic register and versatility in this film. I liked Gosling as well, and he is a great dancer!, he also sings (OK) and plays (decently), but his acting was a bit more monochromatic.
I know that the film has been praised as a musical, but I think is just a decent musical, not a good one. It is just that they don't make musicals like in the old times any more, and the first one that comes out is like wow. Was it wow? Well, no. The film mimics the style of the musicals of the 50s and 60s (on which I fed for years) but never gets to the level of mastery in the music, dancing, singing and production that those films had. On the other hand, I think this film has more value as a drama than most of those classic films, and that is what I enjoyed the most: the story and the acting (beside the musical part). All the musical numbers are enjoyable and well realized, but I wasn't wowed by them. Perhaps the thing that moved me the most was Emma Stone's singing at her final audition, and watching Gosling dance with such great style and easiness.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about this musical is the ode to jazz embedded in the story. The conversations about what Jazz is, between Sebastian and Mia, and between Sebastian and Keith are really wonderful. The soundtrack is very good, needless to say.
I enjoyed La La Land immensely, but I don't think deserved so many Oscar nominations or such an insisting pedant heavy publicity and praise. Good, yes, wow no.