Why I'm Not Gaga About La La

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2017)

Yes I know, the title of my review and the fact that I've given this film an eight rating seems to be sending contradictory thoughts on how good I thought this film was, but I can explain my reasoning and thoughts on this rating process.
I'm going to be brutally honest with my opinions on this, if I'm judging this purely on film credentials/qualities I've got some significant issues, primarily the pacing, it really does lag between sections of the film and this is going to sound bizarre so hear me out...but is the films predictable story structure of young love too comfortable? Or is that the intention of the film given in essence it's a love letter to classic Hollywood films of the studio era where audiences pretty much knew what they were going to get going in...I'll leave that one up for debate I suppose.
On a completely different note I must comment upon Ryan Gosling's singing, it's not particularly bad it's just kind of underwhelming given all that is surrounding it.
The most significant question I have to ask in regards to this film however is at what point does nostalgia for films past equal critical acclaim? Is the film self congratulatory? I kind of thought so in certain moments, there's a particular piece of dialogue that is so glaringly so I did an unintentional eye roll. The reason why I think this is a relevant question is that in recent years we've experienced films that go beyond a nod and a wink to films past and just outright try to recreate and remake extremely popular films of previous years that have been given from my point of view too good critical receptions as simply repackaging these qualities to give to a new modern age audience is not a sign of greatness, surely it's a sign of lack of creativity. The only thing I will say in this films defence to this point is that the films director/writer Damien Chazelle I truly do believe has made this film with immense love for the genre of film that has been and earnestly wanted to bring it to the new audience with none of the cynicism I clearly have, however where it in my opinion falls down is the predictable and flat storytelling in between the outstanding song and dance numbers that the films soul lives off, which is actually a shock as his previous film Whiplash is one of my favourite films in the last few years that I constantly tell people to watch as it has brilliant storytelling at the heart of it.
It really sounds like I didn't enjoy this film doesn't it, however let's go on to the positives, when it's on song it is truly exceptional as an event piece of cinema and certainly worth the price of admission alone, three segments in particular are of testament to this, the Gosling/Stone bench choreographed number, the Emma Stone final audition song (reminded be heavily of Anne Hatheway in Les Miserables) and the 'what if?' reversal of time jazz club finale that was an astonishing spectacle to behold.
I'd be amazed if the score doesn't sweep every awards gong going as it was truly magnificent, the songs were generally infectiously fun but what wins you over more then anything for me was the dance numbers and not because they were a nostalgic nod to Hollywood's yesteryear but because they were wonderfully entertaining and skilfully put together in their own right with two superb performances from Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling at the centre of them putting their heart and soul into something that would have been an enormous challenge, in fact the story between the song and dance numbers almost does a disservice to these moments because the dance numbers themselves tell a much better story through that medium, Emma Stone is sublime and she most certainly can sing and her joyfully exuberance performance is the base for the joyful feel of the film.
This is event cinema, it has to be seen at the cinema there is no doubt about that as it's the sort of film that won't be seen very often on our screens, I can certainly see why is has garnered the industries critical acclaim and respect, however my own personal take on the film is that not of utter adulation but one of just great respect as a film of flawed brilliance.