Movie Reaction: La La Land

Formula: Crazy, Stupid Love * Singin' in the Rain

It's nice when you can look forward to something and not be disappointed by it. That's the problem with hype, isn't it? Something looks good, so you start looking forward to it. Somewhere along the way, your anticipation gets in the way of the actual thing, and you end up disappointed by it. It's happened to me countless times. Not with La La Land, and it wasn't for a lack of hype. I've been looking forward to this movie ever since I first heard about it. It's Damien Chazelle's follow up to 2014's Whiplash, which was one of my favorite films of that year. It pairs Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling together again, which worked delightfully in Crazy, Stupid Love. It's a musical in the style of the 1950s classics, which is a genre I've come to like a lot. Even the bad version of this movie is a one that I'd still give a passing grade to. A good version of this movie is one I'd find easy to love.

La La Land tells the story of an aspiring actress, Mia (Emma Stone) and an unsuccessful Jazz pianist, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). She dreams of becoming a famous actress and he dreams of opening a Jazz club. These two dreamers have a meet-cute (a couple of them, in fact) and start dating. When their relationship starts conflicting with their aspirations, they must figure out how they can make it work or if they can make it work. It's a pretty thin plot, all things considered, and that works for it. There has to be time for music and dance numbers after all.

To the surprise of no one, Stone and Gosling are great together. They have terrific chemistry. They aren't Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly, but they are nice in the song and dance numbers. Chazelle likes doing long shots to show off the work they've put into this. I didn't realize either of them can sing (because they aren't already talented enough as it is), so that was a nice discovery. I've loved Emma Stone since Superbad and this is easily the best she's ever been. She's the Oscar favorite for this and it's hard to argue with that. Gosling is damn charming. He isn't at Stone's level here, but that's saying more about her than him.

While not my forte, I can say that I really loved the music. I'll probably be buying the soundtrack. "City of Stars" and "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" - both used in many of the trailers - are beautiful songs and my favorites from the film. The score is excellent as well. I was enjoying the movie plenty up to that point, but the last two song and dance numbers are what likely propelled this to the top of my list for 2016. The end of the film hit me as hard as anything I've seen in quite a while.

La La Land is a great movie. It lovingly pulls from the classic Hollywood musicals and makes something new out of them. It pairs a talented director with the ideal leads for this kind of film. It's a crowd-pleaser in the best sense. I'm doing my best to restrain myself from over-praising it, but it's hard. I loved the hell out of it.


Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend 

After the Credits

(Some thoughts for if you've seen the movie)

-I've been thinking about why I love La La Land and cared so little for The Artist. It seems hypocritical because they play off a similar love of Hollywood and musicals. I liked The Artist for those things. It's a wonderful recreation of a kind or film that isn't made anymore. I'm all for film conservation and all that. La La Land and The Artist are about fundamentally different things though. The Artist is a sour reflection of a bygone era that condemns Hollywood and films for daring to evolve. It only barely comes to terms with modernizing by the end. La La Land's judgments are about abandoning your dream, not giving in to change. Sebastian's problem isn't that he's playing this pop version of Jazz. It's that he doesn't care about that music and he's doing it anyway. La La Land isn't stubborn about change. It's stubborn about aspirations.