If you look at the reviews for films this year, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that it was an incredible year in film, with many apparently all-time great films, especially Moonlight and La La Land. The former has been heralded as a revolutionary film, changing how we will look at storytelling, while the latter has been seen as a relic from a bygone, better era. However, neither of these films really wowed me, Moonlight being the only of the two which had much redeeming value. Frankly, while I have enjoyed many films this year, none of the most hyped films have been outstanding in my eyes.
When I entered La La Land, I certainly did not expect it to be the best film of the year. The opening scene confirmed by reservations; I simply do not see the appeal in beginning a film with a completely unrelated scene, which only set a tone inconsistent with nearly all other scenes in the film. As the film went on, I had a mixed reaction, as I thought the production was of fairly good quality, while much of the acting, music, and especially the plot ranged from mediocre and boring to bad.
First, I would like to state that I did not hate this film. Rather, I found it extremely boring and incredibly trite. It seemed much of the plot was pooled from countless media that director Chazelle has consumed throughout his life, and many gimmicks used were predictable or became so from overuse. Additionally, many of the acting performances fell flat, especially those of Gosling and Legend. While their characters were believable enough, their performances did the film no favors and ended up coming off as bland and cliche, which was surprising to me after Gosling’s turn in The Nice Guys from earlier in 2016. I was ambivalent towards the entire film, but I was most bored during the seemingly endless musical numbers, most of which were unoriginal and utterly contrived. Similar tricks were used for each one, and I won’t go into those here, as I would not like to spoil the film. However, the musical numbers were often uninspired and monotonous. Clearly, the film was meant to lift spirits in many cases, but the pieces did more to anger me than delight me.
The non-musical parts, however, were charming, though much of the attempted humor fell flat. Chazelle excels at producing realistic scenes, even if many were too melodramatic for my tastes. He also created a great character in Sebastian, who lit up many of the scenes that were bearable in the film. Unlike Mia, he seemed like a more believable character, at least before he joined a band. Speaking of Mia, Emma Stone’s acting was quite good, even if her character fell flat. This is a stark contrast to many other poorly acted, well-crafted characters that appear in the film. Finally, while I may have been bored by many of the musical pieces, I cannot say that they were badly made. Indeed, the choreographers and cinematographers absolutely deserve the awards they have gotten, and the leads do a good job in this area as well. I only wish the film could have been more captivating, I would have thought it one of the best I have seen.
La La Land is a well-made, boring film. It combines many elements of past eras with new technology, but it lacks the great acting, music, and plot of many films it “borrows” from. To those wondering if they should spend their time and money on the film, I would say to go for it if you enjoy the art of filmmaking or love musicals and/or romance. Otherwise, you may be better served going to a funnier or more dramatic film, based on your tastes. All in all, I’m sure La La Land will be remembered well, but time will tell whether it goes down with the greats.