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Created Jan 19, 2017 11:30PM PST • Edited Nov 07, 2023 05:56PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   La La Land is everything it’s cracked up to be: romantic, brilliant, whimsical, thought provoking, so L.A. Thus, it’s a great date movie and a worthy best picture contender, the latter all the more likely after it swept the Golden Globes. Plus it reunites Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone, the Bogie & Bacall of our day.

   Or would they be the Astaire & Rodgers of our day? Well maybe neither, since Gosling & Stone are actors who also do song and dance, at which they’re little more than acceptable. Good thing they’re terrific actors. She is especially remarkable, a fact that becomes evident during her several auditions within the movie.

   Their romance feels organic, even though it couldn’t be more contrived. It also tracks the show biz arc as a kind of a postmodern Star Is Born story. This too is very L.A., where art is praised, but success valued.

   Damien Chazelle’s movie saves its best bit for the end, the mark of an outstanding film. He and composer Justin Hurwitz have created a near perfect cinematic confection, one that manages to be both respectful of L.A., even reverential towards it, while also being bracingly ironic and interestingly meta. No, it doesn’t send you out of the theater humming a song, but that’s about the only flaw in a deserved Best Picture.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling are terrific together in La La Land, though she impresses much more than he does, even though I’m more a fan of him than her. She has the ability to go from frumpy to fetching, and from disaffected to deeply affecting at the drop of a hat. Let’s hope these two make more movies together, as this one is much more impressive than their previous pairings in Gangster Squad & Crazy, Stupid, Love.

   • John Legend brings star power to his role as an audience-pleasing singer. Imagine that.
   • Rosemarie DeWitt has become a great character actress.
   • Finn Wittrock is blandly handsome, just as his role demands.
   • J. K. Simmons is properly tart as a restauranteur.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    This outstanding film has more than a few laughs, starting with its now iconic opening song and dance number on a jammed L.A. freeway. Set under sunny skies and in sweltering conditions, it ends with a simple title-card reading “Winter”. Now that’s funny. After all, L.A. is the land of unintentional irony.

    Writer-director Damien Chazelle deserves hosannas for creating La La Land. He’s already gotten several at the Golden Globes. Oscar is almost certain to follow.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    Justin Hurwitz wrote lovely and often haunting music and songs for this successful musical. The guy deserves more than a Golden Globe (which he’s already gotten) and an Oscar. He deserves a lifetime of free tickets on Broadway.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

17. Sex Titillating 1.8

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.1

    The flights of fancy in La La Land touch the supernatural, charmingly so.

    The perils of show biz success are anything but supernatural, and are well drawn in this ultimate L.A. story.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.1

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Supernatural 3.1