La La Land (2016) by The Critical Movie Critics

Movie Review: La La Land (2016)


With a cut and a kick and an upbeat note, Damien Chazelle sure paints a pretty picture of classic Hollywood musical nostalgia, but La La Land is more plastic pastiche than poignant portrait. It’s a technical marvel that’s dramatically weightless, a boldly bravura effort from writer/director Damien Chazelle and his crew that’s also too cutesy and convinced of its own cleverness to emerge as more than sweet fluff singing hymns to the glory days of yesteryear.

The leads are infatuated artists struggling to make it in modern L.A. while clinging to the past. Mia (Emma Stone, “Irrational Man”) wants to be an actress and has the walls of her bedroom adorned with posters of classic movies, but struggles in the cutthroat world of auditions. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling, “The Nice Guys”) is a jazz pianist itching to run a specific nightclub that he’s obsessed with so he can keep classic jazz alive on his own terms, but he can’t even keep a steady job. They’re both dreamers about to cross paths and share a few bouncily choreographed musical numbers together.

Too bad Mia and Sebastian are just Charming Emma Stone Stock Character™ and Charming Ryan Gosling Stock Character™, offering nothing new from either performer other than passable singing and dancing. They’re good actors with sharp comic timing overall, but they’re blandly familiar here and always so full of movie star charisma that their penniless dreamer act feels awfully artificial.

So when La La Land goes all-in on Mia and Sebastian’s romance, it fizzles, partly because so much effort is made to define them as individuals with their own goals that their coupling feels like more of a Hollywood convenience than something that really means much to either person. Neither character is bettered by the other, nor made more interesting. They seem to be together simply because they’re the pretty people with something in common, an ambitious goal, and in Mia’s case, because her boyfriend seen early in the movie is a snobby snooze.

Despite this being their third movie playing a couple together (“Crazy Stupid Love” and “Gangster Squad,” the other two), Stone and Gosling don’t really have sparkling chemistry in what should be a rather romantic situation. They’re likable losers, easy to root and cheer for, but they don’t need each other and the movie’s insistence that it morph into some grand love story only further emphasizes how weak this aspect of the picture is. Direct “Casablanca” references don’t help matters.

La La Land loves to remind us that Mia and Sebastian are nostalgic for a time they never lived in, so the movie is, too. Its strength lies not in the past, though. It’s imbued with a very modern energy, derived from both its cast and a kinetic editing style that snaps the sequences together with crisp precision.

The choreography is equally impressive in certain group numbers where every movement from both leads and extras is finely tuned to maximize the camera’s spatial sensibilities. Beyond movement, the colors all pop, from costumes to sets, and Justin Hurwitz’s score is wonderful, better as a whole than any of the fine individual songs manage to be under the spotlight.

These elements are all superbly stunning, as if the movie is simply a showcase for Chazelle’s ambitiously gutsy confidence and his filtered-down influence on the other collaborative creative efforts. If that really was the case, that the movie was simply a display for such talents, it could work wonders, but a mediocre love story really throws a wrench in the plan.

It’s a strange problem for the movie to have because Chazelle increasingly embraces the romantic pairing until it completely consumes the experience. As much as La La Land is about Mia and Sebastian’s pursuit of their dreams, it’s arguably even more invested in their happily-ever-after possibilities together, which is what it hangs its emotional hat on. This will be a wise decision for anyone wrapped up in their love story, but a miscalculation for the rest of us who don’t care about Stone playing Stone charming Gosling playing Gosling.

So the movie moves me not, at least no more than getting my foot to twitch out a tap to the best and brightest moments of Hurwitz’s score. It’s still hard not to be awed by Chazelle’s expansive skill set and the strikingly on-point editing.

Chazelle’s last movie, “Whiplash,” had more thought-provoking things to say, better performances, and a more exhilarating knockout ending (although La La Land has a solid finish, too), but his latest is at least even more convincing proof that the young filmmaker dreams big and has the talent to back it up. La La Land is a light confection dancing deftly on a floor of flavorful flourishes, only to be stalled by a contrived coupling. Mia and Sebastian’s story can’t match the magnificence of Chazelle’s technique, but at least the bar is set high.

Critical Movie Critic Rating:
3 Star Rating: Average

3

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'Movie Review: La La Land (2016)' have 10 comments

  1. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 9:53 am Whitney

    Hollywood needs more musical numbers.

  2. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 10:14 am Tamilrap

    This is my favorite movie of 2016. It elicits such a wonderful feeling, even though the story turns out to be a sad story.

  3. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 10:37 am Daniel Newt

    Musicals are really NOT my forte, but this one got me. The chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and their song/dance sequences are an absolute delight. I wouldn’t be surprised if it took home the gold for best picture.

  4. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 12:28 pm gunner

    This is a great date movie.

  5. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 3:07 pm travelin man

    Whats with all the fuss— Bollywood has been doing this for ever and a day.

  6. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 3:40 pm ted

    The characters have interesting aspects to them but I tend to agree together they don’t come together as well as many claim. It’s a good looking film though and its obvious Chazelle paid great attention to how it gets consumed by viewers and that aspect far overshadows the “Charming Emma Stone Stock Character™ and Charming Ryan Gosling Stock Character™” (I love that btw) characters.

  7. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 6:51 pm Joana

    LaLaLand harkens back to a time when Hollywood filled people with hope and joy instead of fear and foreboding. Definitely worth watching several times.

  8. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 7:24 pm 426 Hemi

    I loved it. It’s a movie for the dreamers and the romantics. Cynics need not watch or comment.

  9. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 4, 2017 @ 10:00 pm mychoice

    Neither can sing. Neither can dance. They look cute together but I’d go with Crazy Stupid Love to see younger hotter versions of them. I can’t figure out why so many are singing their praises..

  10. The Critical Movie Critics

    January 5, 2017 @ 12:38 am O

    it made me feel thee funnies in my bellie

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