I am usually mistrustful of over-hyped movies but, on this occasion, I was in the mood for a feel good musical with an upbeat message - not something I am usually drawn to. The Sunday Times reviewer said that "Hating La La Land is like hating a puppy" and gave it 4 stars. Well I like puppies very much but this movie was a massive disappointment. Bad singing; bad dancing; and a mediocre script, made this movie, in my opinion one of the worst movies of the last 12 months. How this can be considered as Oscar material is beyond me but then clearly I am in a minority - although judging by many of the reviews on here - not that small a minority. The second half, in my opinion, was better than the first half. And, yes I did get most of the symbolism and the attempts at pastiche and various homages to the past. This definitely won't be on my 'best of' list.