Let me preface this review by saying that most reviews are subjective. What I didn't like does not mean that you won't like it. Reviews are opinions that may or may not influence your decision to see a film. If you've been thinking about seeing Damien Chazelle's La La Land, I do recommend you continue reading this review to get a better idea of what to expect when you shell out $10 to see it. Do keep in mind that this review contains spoilers and discusses certain scenes that led to the downfall of this film.

Despite winning 7 Golden Globes last week, I was not very impressed with what La La Land had to offer. Although Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, cinematic powerhouses in their own right, are excellent actors, they should stick to just acting. They are actors who cannot sing in a musical. Every time one of them opened their mouth to sing a tune, I would reflexively cringe.

The best part of La La Land was the aesthetics. The views of different locations in Los Angeles, the scene in the observatory, and the dancing roommates are just a few of the visually satisfactory scenes in the film. However, the beauty of it does not take away from the fact that the film lacked any semblance of a plot. Emma Stone's character, Mia, doesn't really have anything to say. Richard Brody's New Yorker review of the film, "The Empty Exertions of 'La La Land,'" discusses Mia's absence of presence: "Scenes of Mia and Seb together are focused almost exclusively on the action at hand; their dates are shown mainly in a montage that features no dialogue; at a disastrous dinner out with her temporary boyfriend Greg (Finn Wittrock), Mia sits silent." I couldn't agree more. Mia is not a particularly verbose character. She simply exists in the movie. I see her more as a symbol to represent most actress in Hollywood who are thirsting for their big break. That's all she represents in the film. Chazelle fails to explore her relationships outside of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and that's the annoying part for me. Mia is more than just an actress and more than Sebastian's girlfriend. She has a family in Boulder City, Nevada and yet when she flees to Boulder City after a failed one-woman production, there is no semblance of family life. Her parents greet her at the door for a moment and then that's the last we see of them. There are no heartfelt conversations about Mia going back to college or maybe giving Los Angeles another shot. They simply don't exist.

If any actress other than Emma Stone played the role of Mia, the character would be empty. Emma Stone's quirky personality and playful vibe fill what remains of Mia with life. Only an actress like Emma Stone can do that, which made her acting ability worthy of a Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a motion picture.

As for Ryan Gosling's character, Sebastian or Seb, he has a rather active role. The film follows his dream to own a traditional jazz club like the ones during the Prohibition era. The movie revolves around Sebastian unhappiness. He begins the film by playing trite clubs in a restaurant before ultimately being fired. Even when he's in a relationship with Mia, it seems that he is anything but happy. He wiggles his way into a new age jazz group where girls fawn over his too-cool-for-this attitude as he pounds away at the keys and synthesizer. If someone were to describe La La Land in one word, I'd say unhappiness. Mia wants to be an actress, Sebastian wants to own a jazz club. For most of the film, neither one has what they want and hardly work toward that goal.

Director Damien Chazelle, in spite of winning Golden Globes (yeah, that's plural) for best screenplay in a motion picture and best director, worked really hard to make the film aesthetically pleasing with a vibrant color palette and choreographing the camera angles to spin around rooms and to look into mirrors. However, that is not enough. He fails to play on the resources available to him such as the romance between Sebastian and Mia or the individuality of the characters themselves. MTV reviewer, Amy Nicholson, writes in "La La Land: A City of Tap Dancing Angels": "Chazelle undervalues and overvalues them all at once, and when he makes his feeble case for why they should stay together, it’s unchallenged wish fulfillment where he erases even more of their personalities." Mia and Sebastian could've been much more valuable characters if Chazelle was honest about who they are as people. They lack personality and life. They are stereotypes and Chazelle fails to give the actors enough room to breathe life into them.

There are only two other saving graces to this film aside from the aesthetics: John Legend and the epilogue. John Legend, a successful musician in his own right, was the best part of the film for me. His character preaches about the evolution of jazz, something that Sebastian is vehemently against because he's a pretentious traditionalist. However, John Legend's character, Kieth, shows that jazz can still be interesting by producing music that has both the elements of modern society and traditional jazz. Kieth isn't seen much in the film and he doesn't make much of a splash, but he was exceptionally interesting when he was on screen. He provided an insight that Sebastian rejects, but is refreshing to the audience. It's the only part of the film that made me think about how music has evolved and take that idea out of the movie theater into the way I approach new music.

The second saving grace was the end. Five years later, Mia is a famous actress with a husband (not Sebastian) and a daughter. While out for a date night, Mia and her husband (who has more of a personality than the characters Mia and Sebastian) happen upon a jazz club. It's Sebastian's jazz club. Sebastian plays their song, "City of Stars," and the film rewinds. It's what their life could've been. Sebastian would've followed Mia to Paris for her big break, they would've gotten married, had a son, and Sebastian would have never opened their night club. It seems to play on the film's final message that Mia and Sebastian are better off apart than together. Though I think the ending seemed to placate and insult the audience, it was the only time where the characters play on their personality. I saw every opportunity for Sebastian to open his jazz club while he was with Mia. He's too dependent on his relationship with Mia to follow his dream. He would've martyred himself and let his resentment as he sat in someone else's jazz club ruin his relationship with Mia.

I give this film a 2 out of 5. I absolutely did not like the film, I could not connect with the characters, and the entire time I was watching the movie I keep checking the time to see how much longer I had to be there. It was long and exhausting, but with a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, my hatred for this film is part of the opinion in the minority. Many people liked the elements that I was disgusted in. Reviews are subjective.