You can only get to the good of the movie by sitting through the 1st half of it. Only after the second half, does the 1st half fit. It makes sense in the end. And becomes a really good movie. But the first part felt so self-conscious and aware of itself and the movies musicals that came before it.
I’m a fan of musicals so I wanted to like it. Ryan Gosling can sing and his voice is really nice. Emma Stone was okay as well. The music composition had to do more heavy lifting than should have been required. The music was gorgeous and absolutely made itself the third character in the film. Thank goodness for that.