“La La Land” embraces its imperfections, realism

Despite the swirling amount of accolades surrounding the popular “La La Land,” I have to admit my outsider status: I’ve never seen it.

That is, until now. For those unfamiliar, the 2016 flick is a musical dramedy featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, which follows the pair as they begin a romantic relationship. It’s certainly not Gosling and Stone’s first movie together and not even the first where they play romantic interests—that honor belongs to 2011’s “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

In “La La Land,” however, the duo swap out the contemporary roles of their previous movie to play two young wannabe stars. Stone plays aspiring actress Mia, and Gosling plays aspiring jazz musician Sebastian—though there’s no denying that whatever roles these two inhabit, they always play well off of each other.

Before I critique, I want to disclose that I’m not typically a fan of musicals and therefore probably have less credibility in this category. I have yet to see “Mamma Mia” (despite currently living in Greece) and I got bored when watching “The Greatest Showman.” The only theater musical to break through my skeptical exterior was a live New York performance of “Kinky Boots,” which was such a good show that I left the auditorium with an entire body of goosebumps. So I’m not saying it’s not possible to wow me with a musical piece—it’s just a bit harder.

On this note, one thing I noticed about the musical parts of “La La Land” is that it’s intentionally imperfect. Stone and Gosling are not professional singers and dancers, and this much is clear; but with that being said, both are so committed to their roles that it hardly matters. I wasn’t too impressed with their singing, but both actors made the playful numbers believable.

However, I think the most standout part of “La La Land” wasn’t its stars, the music or the aesthetic; it was the ending. Having spent most of its runtime with bleeding sunsets and a feel-good relationship, the ending is the opposite of what I expected—and exactly what I wanted. It’s something of a bittersweet collage, culminating real moments with what-could-have-beens. And because a happy, predictable ending would’ve been so much easier—albeit unrealistic—I found this to be refreshing.

The ending, though, isn’t the only part of “La La Land” that proves itself to be realistic. Many of its scenes— including the several times Mia and Sebastian run into each other before falling in love—seem set on showing how possibilities are endless, but they’re always tethered by reality. It’s a lovely reminder that our lives are garnered first by happenstance, but second by choosing what to do with those happenstances.

All in all, this movie was an entertaining watch, mostly because of Stone—who is, at her core, an entertaining person. But while I enjoyed myself, I don’t think it was worthy of being nominated for 265 awards, including 14 Oscars. And if I was more of a musical geek, I’d probably argue even more so.

Overall, I give this movie a 6/10. It’s fun, it’s bittersweet and it makes you want to buy a pair of saddle shoes. Plus, it may have been about nine years since I had a formative piano lesson, but I may tinkle the ivories just to see if I could play “City of Stars.”