Return of the unabashed musical

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2016)

I've been waiting for a return of the unabashed musical, and this one announces from its opening scene that it's a movie where actors burst into choreographed song and dance routines on the spur of the moment. This is a good thing. Part of the death of the musical involved the casting of actors who could not sing and/or were wrong for the part. Naturally, I was nervous about the casting. Gosling and Stone are good actors; as singers, they're effective, her more so. As a dancer, Gosling is a little clunky. You get the feeling Channing Tatum might have done it better. The plot echoes a 30s musical with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler; though not quite as artificial and stylized. There are also elements of Gene Kelly, including a 50s style ballet sequence. Plot-wise: A struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress are looking for a break in Hollywood, fall in love, and struggle when they begin to find success. The romance and much of the comedy echoes Woody Allen's screenplays, especially Annie Hall, and his own musical Everyone Says I Love You (luckily the actors don't _act_ as if they're in an Allen film, no matter how much the script sounds like they should). Story and plot don't tend to matter much in a musical, but the lead characters and the love story works. The style and design are mostly spot on, though it's not a showcase of costume and sets. The editing is a bit odd, and sometimes it seems that the singing is not quite matching the lip movement. When John Legend sings, though his songs are not good, we hear what a polished singer sounds like, and can clearly match his mouth to the sound. None of the songs in the movie are breakout hits exactly. Emma Stone's audition song is the most effective, and/but it heavily echoes Paul Williams (I could hum Rainbow Connection over it). Overall, despite criticism, I think it's a great movie for the present time. It may succeed better as a gimmick, given that this type of musical is so seldom made now. In a year with multiple musicals, I'm not sure how memorable this one would be. I will say, in almost all respects, it's well worth seeing, and probably seeing in a theater for full effect.