All this praise? You' ve got to be kidding!!!

Rating: 6/10 (17 January 2017)

I guess the power of advertising remains a marvelous and powerful medium that has but one goal: To make more money. And, in my view, La la land delivers the perfect example of this clever but unfortunate phenomenon. Of course everyone will go to see it, (even I did after all). It will undoubtedly make a bundle for its producers and investors and may quite possibly even win a few awards that increasingly appear to be handed out with the sole intention of increasing a film's profits even further.
How can this possibly happen? Is it really all about money? What did all of these people that saw the film see that I didn't? Admittedly, not much attention should be paid to Mr and Mrs Public who will continue to slavishly follow the opinions of others and are perfectly satisfied to have their minds dulled by average entertainment. But what about the critics (e.g. IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes among others), and especially the ones who are actually paid to deliver a service and whom one hopes and trusts to be just a little objective? Who can be trusted not to mislead the earnest movie lover these days?
I fully appreciate that taste differs, but please please tell me what exactly separates this film from mere, unabashed mediocrity? In considering this just for a moment, one is mindful of some of the musicals of the 50s (Hit the Deck is just one) that did not possess the money machine, camera work, and technological advantages that are readily available today. It bears pointing out that La la land is a mere pale shadow of some of those films of so long ago.
More to the point: In my view La la land is a mediocre effort, not worthy of the actors' talents, nor of that of the Director who, after all, gave us the wonderful Whiplash. I do have to say that Emma Stone does her absolute best against almost impossible odds and gives a great performance, but Ryan Gosling is not only miscast, but displays no visible energy for his co-star. He appears somewhat wooden, stiff and almost disinterested in the movie and this describes his dancing and singing as well. The film's editing furthermore leaves a lot to be desired and creates a disjointed feeling for the viewer. It is almost as if some of the scenes were just thrown together haphazardly in a hurry in a boring and predictable script.
I really could go on and one may wonder why I have spent so much energy in criticizing this film, but I simply cannot believe the accolades that it continues to receive and this upsets me greatly.
Finally, after seeing La la land, I was left feeling dissatisfied and somewhat angry at having sat through it. Yogesh