La La Land, a musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, is getting lots of rave reviews and is nominated for a bunch of Golden Globes. So does it live up to the hype?
Not for this little black duck. I accept that I am in the minority, though certainly not alone, in finding this film really quite dull.
It's a boy-meets-girl love story (she's trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood, he as a jazz pianist) and despite having an unpredictable ending I found the storyline quite ho hum. It was only about half way through this two hour film that anything interesting happened! And even then it didn't last that long.
As a musical lover, I have to say that my primary objection to this film is that the stars, Stone and Gosling, can't actually sing very well. They're not terrible, but they're nowhere near good enough to lead a musical in my view. Neither are particularly good dancers either and the dance scenes aren't exactly electric. Also on the subject of it being a musical, I also felt like the film actually wasn't quite sure if it was a musical or not. There certainly weren't as many songs as I would have predicted for a film categorised as a musical. OK I'm going to stop saying the word musical now.
I saw this film with two friends and they both liked it and mounted a spirited defence (ie "she's wrong"... "Oh my God" etc) when I said I didn't. Here's how that conversation unfolded. (Be grateful - this is the short version.)
A five star review in The Guardian for your reference but this article, "La La Land is a terrible film, but it will win Best Picture at the Oscars anyway" in the Fairfax press is excellent and I completely agree! If you want to watch a great musical starring incredible triple threats, get yourself a copy of the 1952 hit Singin' in the Rain. Seriously.
La La Land is in cinemas now. Trailer here.