"La La Land" is a movie musical directed by Damien Chazelle that stars Emma Stone as Mia, an aspiring actress, and Ryan Gosling as Sebastian, a jazz pianist. It centers around their growing romance and how their work affects their relationship.

This movie has received both critic and audience praise, winning 7 Golden Globes including Best Actor and Actress, Best Director and Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Critics and old Hollywood heads claim that it brought back the movie musical and is a return to form to the Golden age of Hollywood. I wanted to see the movie beforehand, but hearing all the hype and seeing it sweep the Globes really peaked my interest. This is probably why "La La Land" was a bit of a disappointment.

Let me be clear, "La La Land" was in no way a bad movie. I love musicals, and the opening number had me grinning like an idiot throughout the entire scene. It seemed to be shot in one take, and didn’t limit itself in size and grandeur. This highlights one of the strongest aspects of the film. When musicals are put to film, directors often only think of what needs to be shown in terms of a stage. With original movie musicals like "La La Land," the director has the freedom to do anything, and I think that Chazelle used this opportunity well. I also LOVED the cinematography. The visuals and the camera work in the movie were absolutely stunning, focusing on long takes and highlighting the backdrop of a scene in addition to the actors in them. I don’t usually pay attention to wardrobe in movies, but I was definitely a fan of the bright-colored outfits that the characters wore. Lastly, I was a fan of the story. Although it did get slow at times, the overall narrative was compelling and realistic, especially towards the end of the movie (I won’t spoil anything here). I very much enjoyed the subtlety in the movie, like the nods to old Hollywood movies as well as the little things that define the characters. I also thought that the epilogue was amazing and reminded me of numbers in movie musicals like "Singin' In The Rain," but the ending still managed to be appropriate for modern-day story-telling and audiences’ need for realism in film.

With all this being said, I do think that "La La Land" has some problems that I hope people realize when Oscars season starts. Because the story centers around this one couple, the actors playing the characters have to be interesting to watch. I didn’t really feel that way watching Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. I’m a huge fan of Stone and both of the actors have worked together on previous projects. Their timeless appearance and on-screen chemistry led me to believe they would be a perfect fit for this type of movie. However, I didn’t find the actors particularly intriguing. I found the banter in the beginning of their relationship amusing, but as the characters became more of a couple, I tended to zone out a bit during their conversations. I am especially critical of Gosling’s character Sebastian, who often sounded preachy when he discussed jazz with other people (I instantly got nervous because I was afraid that this is how I sound when I talk about music with other people).

This leads me to my biggest problem with the movie-musical: the music. Firstly, both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling aren’t the greatest singers, which I thought was a huge oversight when it came to casting considering they’re going to be singing throughout the movie. I’m baffled as to how “City of Stars,” sung by Gosling, was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Song much less won; Gosling is an even weaker singer than Stone is. They weren’t very good dancers either, quite frankly. I wasn’t expecting any Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dancing, but as the movie is inspired by old Hollywood I expected to be entertained. To say I was let down is a bit of an understatement. Overall, the whole “musical” aspect of the film was lacking. I understand that not every musical has to have wall-to-wall extravagant musical numbers, but having the best number in the entire film be the very first scene was disappointing, to say the least. The most disappointing part of the music I believe was the missed opportunity in making one of the characters be a jazz pianist and not having music based in jazz. It would have made sense not only because of the male lead but it also would’ve been fitting with the old Hollywood aesthetic. Alas, this was not the case. I didn’t find the score to be anything unique or interesting, it seemed to be your typical run-of-the mill score for a musical. I was particularly confused at how, when it came to wind instruments, the score heavily highlighted clarinets and flutes and seemed to be totally absent of any trumpets, saxophones or trombones, instruments that are staples of the jazz genre. I thought it seemed like a very odd (and frankly annoying) choice for this type of film.

To sum things up, I thought "La La Land" was a GOOD, but not a GREAT film. The amazing cinematography and strong story managed to make up for the lack-luster cast and questionable music. If you’re trying to decide which movie under award contention you should see, I’d go with "Hidden Figures."