What's up with the hate?

I think it is because it is winning so many awards, that there is a backlash and more hate than expected. I thought it was a great film, but not the best of the year. Moonlight and Manchester By The Sea are better films, but La La Land is winning everything.

It's because it is about a jazz pianist.

Jazz ties with classical as being the least popular music in America, as well as most parts of the world (it accounts for less than 1% of music sales).

That's going to piss a lot of people off, unfortunately.

How many movies are about a jazz pianist and an actress? I'll bet not many.

The first half of the movie is like an old school frank Sinatra flick, o was loving it. Then they the second half of the movie was horrendous and the characters stopped saying good lines. This movie deserves everything it gets. Including the hate. It's like they only had a script for the first half movie. My wife dragged me to see this and I really was surprised I liked the first half of the movie. "I'm letting life hit me till it tires out." Is a memorable line worthy of the most classic of films. But oh no. the second half is the worst experience I've had in cinema in awhile. Just ran out of steam big time. By the time it's revealed that she dumps him as soon as she gets successful I had given up on it being a good movie. It started off really strong though. Of course my wife said it didn't matter what happened to the characters it's about what you feel. So who knows what that was.

I don't think it's hate' I think a lot of people, like me, just didn't think it was that good. My reaction was "Meh".

I was hoping that they would end up together. He went through the whole ordeal to drive down to CO (15.5 hours from LA!). Problem is, she's casting in Paris, while he's still state-side ramping up his jazz career. Plus, I still don't know when this movie takes place... I guess no cell phones and when domestic calls, let alone international were costly? OTOH, given it's a movie, I was hoping they could at least make the long distance relationship work out. It's only 3 months being apart.

Oh well. At least they each had a happy ending apart.

For me, it was that Emma Stone isn't that good a dancer and olny a so-so singer, and in a song-and-dance movie, that's a cardinal sin. I came into it thinking I was not going to like Ryan Gosling, but he turned out to be the best thing about the movie, and I mean that in a good way.

Also, the story is paper thin. She goes away, and it's suddenly 5 years later, and she's married to someone else and has a child. What the hell happened there? Did she have an accident and develop retrograde amnesia?

In a way, she's made out to be a shallow, vacuous bitch who spat upon the man who was willing to let her go to pursue her dream, all the while professing her love for him...

In that way, it's VERY Hollywood accurate.

..Joe

I didn't hate it, but it didn't have any memorable songs, and the dancing of the two leads was obviously amateurs who had been intensively drilled, not experienced professionals. The first half or two-thirds of the story was entertaining enough, but the latter part wasn't as good. After all the hype, it was just a disappointment. I think it probably appealed more to people who haven't seen the great musicals of the 1930s through 1950s.

The first half makes it seem like an old-fashioned boy-meets-girl movie, so when the viewer realizes it's about two people who put their careers ahead of romance, it's disappointing. That and the extreme critical praise gets the objections flowing.

Not only does the ending defy everything that we've come to expect from a cheerful musical, it's no fun. Of course I understand that it's the right ending for a film about modern showbiz wannabes, that the ending is an insightful commentary on modern LA and the entertainment industry... but that doesn't make it enjoyable.