Not bad but over-rated

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2017)

It's a shame that this film, directed by the very talented Damien Chazelle (creator of Whiplash), has had so much praise heaped on it, and is favourite for the Oscars. It is not a bad film, but it doesn't deserve an Oscar. When it ended, I left the cinema saying "it doesn't suck" and "I didn't walk out on it". But I didn't rave about it. With echoes of Whiplash, it does have deeper themes such as how two artists in a relationship can maintain their careers simultaneously, and also the importance of dreaming big and of being willing to fail and compromise. Also, it must be noted, this film's creators have dreamed big - by bringing a big time musical back to a Hollywood studio film. But maybe that's all the risk they were prepared to take, because much of the film is quite bland. The opening number on the jammed-up freeway is an excellent idea, but all we see dancing and singing are beautiful thin young people in multi-coloured clothes fresh from the studio wardrobe. It would have been so much fresher to have old people and obese people and kids getting out of those cars and doing their own thing. But for many of the film's scenes, we only get lithe young dancers in swimsuits or dancing clothes shaking their booty. It's boring. Or rather, it's nice, but not exciting. I feel Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are sincere in their roles as the struggling actor Mia and the earnest jazz pianist Sebastian. But they come across as very, well, pleasant. I.e. bland. They have no edge, they're not quirky. They're very WASP-ish. The film's soundtrack is nicely performed, but not that memorable. If you look at a musical like Chicago or Hairspray, there are about 10 killer songs that stay with you. Not with La La Land. I like how La La Land showcases some lesser-known Los Angeles landmarks. But the movie is also too conservative in sticking to a very rigid style. There are some tiny nods to modern times, such as Mia driving herself home from a date, and a cellphone ring getting in the way of romance. But lots of other films, such as Chef, which uses Twitter, or Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, with its drug-gang take on a modern city, and even the semi-animated Enchanted, set in tough New York, are willing to have fun with modern technology, even while they portray traditional stories and styles. Gosling and Stone are very serious and earnest. I feel they're wrong for these roles. La La Land tries hard, but ultimately I didn't love it. I wanted to, but I didn't.